Quick reminder: your audience isn’t settling in with a coffee to appreciate your beautifully crafted workplace writing. This isn’t about your skill, it’s about the pace of work people are dealing with.

While your content is being consumed, your reader is likely:

• scanning emails on another monitor
  
• managing competing internal and external priorities
  
• thinking about the next task they’ll tackle after responding to you
  

That’s why writing short matters. Here, brevity isn’t a stylistic choice—it’s a communication strategy.

Short writing lands fast. Your reader gets the point on the first pass, can act without rereading, and feels understood in the pace they’re working at.

Why brevity matters

Focus first on what your audience needs, and not every detail you feel obliged to include. They’re busy putting out fires and could use solutions. If nothing else, structure your work so responding to it checks a box. Everyone likes a quick win.

Here’s how to narrow your focus for short, direct content.

1. Lead with the take-away

Front-load the point. If your message hinges on a decision, a question, or a deadline, put it right at the top.

For example:

• Instead of: “I’m reaching out because I wanted to follow up on last week’s meeting and share a few thoughts before we move forward…”
  
• Try: “I need your approval on the draft by noon today. Here’s the update from last week’s meeting.”
  

One line gives your reader what they need. The rest will provide context they’ll read if they have time.

2. Use active, forward movement

Passive sentences make your reader work harder than they need to. Active ones help them follow the action right away.

Try shifts like:

• “The quarterly numbers were posted by finance” → “Finance posted the quarterly numbers.”
  (Straightforward. You instantly see who did the action.)
  
• “The deadline was missed by the contractor” → “The contractor missed the deadline.”
  (Clear ownership, no extra padding.)
  
• “The update was sent to the client by our team” → “Our team sent the client an update.”
  (Direct and easy for anyone to skim.)
  

Shorter. Sharper. Built for real-world reading.

3. Omit what’s unnecessary

Cutting extra words makes writing lighter. It also keeps you out of the corporate-speak trap that slows readers down.

Swap:

• “Due to the fact that” → “because”
  
• “In order to” → “to”
  
• “At this point in time” → “now”
  
• “We are reaching out to inform you” → “Here’s what you need to know.”
  

These choices make your writing sound human, not formal-for-the-sake-of-formal.

4. Break up information

Use structure to help your reader move through your message:

• short paragraphs
  
• line breaks
  
• bolded text for key points
  
• bullets for anything heavy or multi-step
  

Your reader will always choose the path of least resistance. Give them one.

How radio taught me to write short

When I wrote radio copy, I learned quickly: if you can’t say it in under a minute, you don’t have a handle on your story. Radio forces focus. You write for the ear, with only seconds to catch attention and no chance for your audience to look back.

In News, people need the basics upfront—who, what, when, where, why (and sometimes how or because). That structure isn’t just a formula, it’s a way of respecting people’s time.

The same principle holds for modern communication. Your reader may not be listening to the radio, but they’re moving just as fast. Your message has a small window to land and when brevity becomes a built-in habit, you won’t think about how to hit that window. You’ll just do it.

How to make writing short your daily practice

Before you hit send, ask yourself:

• What does my reader need first?
  
• If they only read the opening line, would they understand the point?
  
• Can this sentence be shorter, more active, or more precise?
  
• Am I introducing too many ideas at once?
  

These small pauses sharpen everything you share.

The final word

Short, direct copy leads to actionable communication.

Brevity creates clarity. Clarity catches attention. And attention is gold in a content world moving faster than ever.

If you need a grounding rule, here’s one worth noting: straight from Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style:

“Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

That’s my literary reference for the week. But remember, no one is sitting down with your prose.

If you want extra support shaping clearer, smarter workplace writing, check out my swipe file: Inbox Edited—50 phrase swaps for clearer, smarter emails.