Brevity Is The Soul Of Communication
The shorter the information the likelier you will make better impacts.
When I was an undergraduate, I hated that classes would hold for two hours straight and in some cases, even longer. My anger for these classes being long is compounded by how many lecturers, to fill the vacuum, would spend time telling us very long stories about some of the ‘nasty’ things they have done.
When I was at the National Training Academy, Cairo, I learned differently and fast. Our classes were split into sessions to avoid long, non-stop training; despite us spending a great deal of time at the academy, we had filler activities to break the classes. Sometimes, we broke them with photoshoot sessions.
Like the classes, I have noticed a pattern in other communications. When someone speaks for too long at an event, they start to bore the audience. When the email becomes too long, it becomes slightly infuriating — this is why I like to segment NAN.
Similarly, when you meet people and you talk non-stop, especially when it is only one side doing the talking, you start to annoy the shit out of people. There is always something to say but it is wiser to listen more and talk less. That way, you say only the things that are important.
In all of your communication, remember the words of Williams Shakespeare;
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Practice
Last week’s NAN was quite short, right? A few persons mailed me to ask why it was that short and while I might have admitted easily, especially following this week’s topic, that it was planned; it wasn’t.
Of recent, I have been having difficulties focusing. Sometimes I get a burst of energy at 12 a.m. (that I am even awake at 12 a.m. shows how far I have derailed from my routines) but the burst soon dies off. I have been carrying over exhaustion too.
The ingredient for NAN, if you haven’t noticed, is that most of what I share are from personal challenges that I have faced or am facing. Ideally, I should return to previous episodes and read myself to practice but I just let the week(end) slide by.
And I am telling you this today, to remind you that no matter how disciplined or dedicated you might be, you are a human and sometimes your body just needs rest. Sometimes it is your brain that needs it. Whatever it is, do not superhuman your way to breakdown.
TEA
While there has generally been a lot going on in and around my life, the one thing that I am most excited about (at least the one I don’t have an NDA preventing me from talking about) is the HumAngle documentary series on Lagos.
I am very interested in and invested in creating. Therefore, creating this documentary for HumAngle is such an exciting curve for me. On Friday, August 20, we debuted the #SurvivingLagos documentary. You can watch the first episode here:
New episodes will debut every two weeks and you can trust me to share them on NAN. Please watch, subscribe, and share. As always, I love feedback; do not hesitate to write to me when/where necessary.
For some time, we have not had our joint mantra said together. So, as we go into this week, let’s say it:
I am going to have a great week.
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Be nice to other people, smile as much as you can, and live freely. Have a great week.
Welldone and looking forward to seeing the documentary
I'm going to have a great week 🤲