In the age of technology there is constant access to vast amounts of information. The basket overflows; people get overwhelmed; the eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world, it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, & react to what goes on.

- Criss Jami

In any successful relationship, no matter if the parties are committed business partners, married, or simply acquaintances; coherent communication is an absolute must.

As we are transitioning into the experience age, one of the main drawbacks of our current age (Information age) actually resides in the title. With the emergence of the internet, we now have instant accessibility to almost all types of knowledge.

How is this a drawback?

Well, in 2015, Microsoft released a study claiming that the average human’s attention span decreased by 33% (12 seconds to 8 seconds) over a 15-year time period.

Therefore, when acknowledging the significance of coherent communication & the decrease in average attention span, is it not logical to consider getting your message across as efficient as possible?

In other words, get to the point.

How do you “get to the point” while maintaining a balance between not being too detailed nor too blunt?

Three solutions:
- Avoid circumlocution
- Acknowledge your tone
- 1:3 ratio.

Avoid circumlocution:

The brain is naturally better at telling the truth than lying (unless you become accustomed to lying), and to add to that, lying takes much longer than telling the truth. Therefore, say things for what they are without adding the sugarcoat. In other words, say what you mean & mean what you say.

Acknowledge your tone:

In simple terms, your tone clarifies & conveys the meaning of the message you are conveying. How you say your message is often much more important than what you say. So, maintaining awareness of your intention & providing the necessary context directly correlates to the level of tone you are portraying. This level of self-awareness allows us to convey our message as clear & honest as possible (efficient).

1:3 ratio:

At times, systemizing can greatly increase your level of efficiency. This is where the 1:3 ratio comes into play. For every point that is aimed to be given, you support the idea with three subsections. Focusing on three main sub-sections gives us room to provide detail while at the same time forces us to discard any excess information.

There are a lot of ways to explain almost any topic. However, focusing on too much detail to provide little progress in the conversation is inefficient and in some cases, a bit irritating. We can often lose ourselves in the explanation by wanting to sound smart, trying to explain what we do not understand, or by being afraid of either judgement or the misunderstanding your point.

Make it easy on everyone, especially yourself, and portray your message loud & clear. The listener will thank you.

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 References:

McSpadden, Kevin. “Science: You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish.” Time, Time, 14 May 2015, time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/.

Cosgrove, Emily. “Why Tone Matters.” ConversationSpace, 14 Jan. 2019, www.theconversationspace.com/our-thinking/why-tone-matters/. 

Brenner, Dean. “Why You Won't (or Can't) Get TO THE POINT.” The Latimer Group, 9 Sept. 2015, thelatimergroup.com/why-you-wont-or-cant-get-to-the-point/. 

Grant, Anett. “This Is Why You Always Struggle to Get Your Message Across.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 22 Feb. 2019, www.fastcompany.com/90310822/4-reasons-you-cant-seem-to-get-your-message-across. 

Ananthaswamy, Anil. “The More You Lie, the Easier It Gets.” New Scientist, 8 Feb. 2011, www.newscientist.com/article/dn20085-the-more-you-lie-the-easier-it-gets/.