Make Every Word Count

Do you sometimes ramble?  Need to get to the point more quickly?  Here’s a powerful trick.  Pretend you’re sending a telegram.

In the 1800s, sending a telegram was a precious experience both to send and receive.  Every word counted, literally.

A 10-word message in today’s dollars was:

• NY to New Orleans $75

• New York to LA $200

• New York to London $2600

Today our words don’t count, not literally anyway.  We can talk forever for a flat fee.  We have unlimited text.  Even Twitter limits the character count to 280, up from its original 140, but the cost is carried by the provider, so we tweet away. 

Today, we are incented to go on and on. If our words literally counted, we’d be much more intentional and thoughtful in our communications. Give it a try. 

The next time you need to get to the core of your big message, imagine you had only $200 for the telegram.  In 10 words, what would that telegram say?  That, my friend, is your core message.  You may even decide to save a little money and make it only 5 words.

Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was said to have sent the shortest-ever telegram inquiring how the launch of his new book, Les Miserables, was being received:

• Hugo’s telegram: “?”

• Publisher’s response: “!”