Second Cup: Spoil the surprise

Don't make people guess what you're writing, calling, or meeting about

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that you shouldn't make people guess what a meeting, call, document,

(00:24):
or email is about. Let them know in as straightforward
a way as you can. In other words, go ahead
and spoil the surprise. Today's tip comes from Gretchen Rubin,
author of The Happiness Project and most recently Life in

(00:45):
Five Senses. When Gretchen was a guest on my other podcast,
Best of Both Worlds, she talked about how she chose
the title for her new book. She explained that for
a nonfiction book, you don't want a title that makes
the reader guess what the book is about. It is

(01:06):
much better to spell it out clearly. That is broadly
applicable advice in many contexts. It pays to be clear
about your topic and your purpose. Don't make people guess.
In general, people don't like guessing. When people know what

(01:27):
is happening, they can be better prepared, which will make
everything more productive. I am sure you have seen the
opposite happen. Plenty of times someone calls an important meeting
but isn't really clear about what needs to be discussed
or decided. The meeting is given some nebulous title like

(01:51):
updates or summer Season. People show up at the appointed time,
but they don't know what they're talking about or what
they're aiming to accomplish, and because of that, they probably
haven't done any research or thinking to prepare. The odds
of that being a productive meeting are low. Email subject

(02:15):
lines are sometimes similarly vague, question, hiring, initiative, vacation. I
am probably not the only one who has gotten vague
voicemail messages saying someone had a quick question or an
exciting updated and they wanted me to call them back.

(02:37):
Unless you are writing fiction or directing a suspense movie,
you probably don't want to leave people guessing about what
is going to happen, and you don't want to leave
people guessing about the purpose of a meeting. Call email
or document either. Don't bury the lead, as journalists would say, Instead,

(03:01):
be direct about what is happening and why. This will
save time for everyone. If a meeting agenda, let's attendees
know that you will be discussing the performance review process
with an eye toward improving it. They may review the
performance review documents from last year and come to the

(03:22):
meeting with questions and ideas. If your email subject line
announces that you have sent a draft for the recipient's
review by five pm the next day, the person knows
to confirm right away that they can open the document
and plan some time to review it. If your voicemail

(03:43):
says you would like to invite the person you've called
to speak at an event on October sixth, that person
can check their calendar before calling you back. When we
want suspense, we can go to the mystery section of
the library. In most day to day communications, it's clarity

(04:06):
that we're after. By being direct about what you are
doing and what you want to accomplish, you can let
everyone prepare and waste far least time in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(04:26):
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b the number

(04:48):
four then Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me an
email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com That
Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

(05:12):
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