Confidante:
I get questions. I store them in a vault. Sometimes I answer them out loud, right here. And today, my friend, is that day.
Let's unlock the Chamber of Reader Letters. Slip through the door. Fill your lungs with that climate-controlled air. And enter now into this edition of... FAQs: Frequent Annarchy Questions.
Note: Questions have been edited for brevity and clarity. And to cloak the identity of that guy one cubicle over from you.
✉️ FAQ #1: "I'd love to hear your thoughts on overcoming impostor syndrome, particularly when it comes to getting started. Despite having worked in marketing and communications for more than a decade, I still struggle." —Zane
Dear Zane:
Here's the truth: I've never been completely comfortable in my work. And that's a good
thing.
Competent: Mostly. Comfortable? Rarely.
When I was starting out, I sometimes felt so hopelessly incompetent and uncomfortable that I kept thinking about the day when I'd be abundantly competent and comfortable.
I thought there'd come a point when I'd set the career cruise control to ON... and just fly the rest of the way down the highway. (Carefree, singing at the top of my lungs. Taylor Swift's Fearless would be a good soundtrack to pair with a voiceover here...)
But it turns out that the more you master... the more you realize what you don't know.
The more you understand challenges... the more you challenge yourself to learn more.
The more you hone your skills... the
sharper still you want to make them.
There's power in keeping yourself leaning forward, slightly off-balance. You should feel slightly uneasy. If you're pushing yourself to new places, you're never totally comfortable.
Impostor syndrome is a problem when you feel like you don't deserve to be in the room you're in. But it can also fuel you in new directions. It's paradoxical—like Jumbo Shrimp or Virtual Reality. But true.
So yeah. I've never been completely comfortable in my work. I hope I never am.
✉️ FAQ #2: Ugh. How do I get better at craft? —Roberta
Roberta,
I like the simple, direct question, and the ugh. I feel that. Here's a simple, direct response: Write four drafts of everything.
1. The Ugly First Draft. Barf it up! Get it out!
2. The-chainsaw-edit version. Move the big chunks around on dollies and hand-trucks. Is it starting to take shape? Does the logic flow?
3. Surgical-tool-edit version. Finer editing. Each word must earn its keep. A few must delight me.
4. Read-it-out-loud version. Does it sound like writing (a little uptight)? If so, revisit #3. Repeat.
I write four drafts when it matters. And it matters more than you might think!
✉️ FAQ #3: I work in PR. How
can I get journalists, influencers, clients, and (sometimes) my boss to respond to my email pitches? —Izan
Dear Izan:
We open most of what lands in our inbox, yet let look at the data:
- 61% of them are read for 8 seconds or more
- 23.5% get skimmed—like we're glancing at a billboard on the highway
- 15% of all messages get less than 2 seconds of
attention
(Thanks to the amazing Jay Schwedelson for the stats.)
So maybe the question is not: How do we get people to respond?
A better question is: How can we make our emails more valuable? How do we throw a wrench into the gears of that automatic email-processing?
Much of this has to do with how the reader feels about you: About whether you've built trust and affinity. (Your From Line matters more than your Subject Line! I will never stop reminding you.)
But, that said, the writing matters, too.
Writing in email tends to be bad—more so than most communication. Why is that? I have a few hunches:
Hunch #1: Email tends to be ambiguous because of its immediateness: Most of us dash off an email without a lot of forethought.
Hunch #2: Nuance is often impossible to convey. Sure, tossing in a winking emoji might help convey that you're joking. Still, when you write like you talk (common advice I don't agree with, by the way), what you can easily communicate face-to-face gets lost in writing.
Hunch #3: WE DON'T PAUSE BEFORE WE HIT THE SEND BUTTON. It's so important... I've SHOUTY CAPPED IT. Take a beat. Reread. Reread it out loud.
So what's the solution?
Before you hit SEND: Read as the recipient. Swap places with your reader. Be a skeptic of your own words. Get out of your own head; step into your reader's. Read your email through their eyes.
How: Ask yourself 3 simple questions:
- Clarity: Is my point clear?
- Simple: Could I make this point more simply? (Am I making it too hard to figure out what I'm trying to say?)
- Brevity: Could I make this point in fewer words?
Then toss in 3 more
elements:
- Anticipate: What question would I have after reading this?
- Next: What do I want the reader to do? (Nothing? Fine. But is the "FYI only" clear?)
- Unexpected: Highlight ONE unexpected element—a surprising idea, a twist, a colorful bit of language.
Finally, make your Ask crazy-clear. One uber-practical suggestion is this: Use Action Words in your subject line. Instead of "Agenda for Tuesday," use "Please comment: Agenda for Tuesday 1 PM meeting."
✉️ FAQ #4: How do I get you to answer my question? —You
Just hit reply. Say hi. Then ask away. I'll try to get to yours next time.
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