Pay Attention to Details
Generalization: Why your brain is blind to your own typos
It’s hard to catch your own errors. This can be something as trivial as transposing the letters in “the” to “hte,” or something as significant as omitting the core explanation of your article.
Our brain generalizes words & letters as we re-read our work in favor of creating sentences and meaning, and this is where a partner is crucial to double check your work.
This generalization is why it is so easy for your readers to catch mistakes you struggle to see.
A fresh set of eyes exposes blind spots you may miss.
Enlist Help
We have a writer we use, and the reason for this is fundamental.
She has our back, editing for clarity to ensure we say what we intend to say about leadership development and creating high performing cultures. She sweeps up the details when it comes to content & our Momentum Consulting website. She works with our Web Developer too, ensuring the copy is clear (and properly spelled).
As a leader within your organization, communication is key. When writing for impact, don’t hesitate to enlist someone to copyedit, or revamp, your work. It could be the difference between engaging someone and losing them completely.
I received an email from a software company recently that was going through a pivot with their services. They sent this update to all subscribers about the changes and how it would better serve everyone.
It was a heartfelt letter and while I appreciated their authenticity, I was horribly distracted by numerous spelling and grammatical errors. I can’t remember what the update was about, I mostly remember surprise that no one had proofread it. Simple misspellings, using the wrong word, all of the common errors were there.
Details matter
Misspellings & grammatical errors can feel trivial, but these mistakes undermine your message. If you have noticed errors in an email before, you likely were left wondering “don’t they realize that Outlook has spellcheck?”
Worse still is blasting out even one simple error to hundreds or thousands of people on a mailing list. On your website are there errors lurking that prospects might notice and be turned off by, or common misspellings in your own in-house emails?
Get curious. Pay attention. Ask for help. We weren’t meant to do this alone.
And you certainly are not alone. Momentum is always available to help you upgrade your communication.
All my best,
Marlene
Fundamental # 25 | Pay Attention to Details
Be rigorous about accuracy and precision. Double-check your work.
