Know your audience before using Acronym
• Explain technical terms first time they appear
• Don't try to sound clever, be clear instead
• Say what you mean, in plain language, and let the reader decide whether it was "groundbreaking"
Amazon, the world's largest retailer, is worth $1.3 trillion
Bezos trains his writers using the famous 6-page memo
So I spent hours studying them to know why they work
Here are 5 writing principles worth your time :
Know your audience before using Acronym
• Explain technical terms first time they appear
• Don't try to sound clever, be clear instead
• Say what you mean, in plain language, and let the reader decide whether it was "groundbreaking"
• Focus on one idea per sentence
• Strip out qualifiers like "I think," "I feel," "should we consider"
• Eliminate anything that reads like "style." Don't use your writing to extend your personal brand
Don't force readers to interpret your meaning
• People don't like buzzwords
• Adjectives are vague and don't add to making decisions
• "Profit increased drastically last quarter" -> " Profit increased by 40% as compared to Q3"
When in doubt, keep things simple:
• Subject: Who or what you're writing about
• Verb: What they did or will do
• Object: Who or what is acted upon
Tell readers instantly what you want them to do
• How will it save them money?
• How will this save them time?
• How will it save them from having to do work?
What they want to know is who, how long, and what changes may result.
5 Tips to write like an Amazonian
1. Use the "So what?" test
2. Replace adjectives with data
3. Use subject-verb-object sentences
4. Use fewer than 30 words per sentence
5. Avoid jargon, acronyms, and buzzwords
1. Follow me daily copywriting nuggets @TanmayS_Chauhan
2. Retweet the below thread https://t.co/toVor0VfyK
Amazon, the world's largest retailer, is worth $1.3 trillion
— Tanmay Singh Chauhan\U0001f58a\ufe0f (@TanmayS_Chauhan) August 25, 2022
Bezos trains his writers using the famous 6-page memo
So I spent hours studying them to know why they work
Here are 5 writing principles worth your time :
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1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
My top 10 tweets of the year
A thread 👇
https://t.co/xj4js6shhy
https://t.co/b81zoW6u1d
https://t.co/1147it02zs
https://t.co/A7XCU5fC2m
A thread 👇
https://t.co/xj4js6shhy
Entrepreneur\u2019s mind.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) August 22, 2020
Athlete\u2019s body.
Artist\u2019s soul.
https://t.co/b81zoW6u1d
When you choose who to follow on Twitter, you are choosing your future thoughts.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) October 3, 2020
https://t.co/1147it02zs
Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) August 30, 2020
It\u2019s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it\u2014even if progress is imperfect and slow.
Action relieves anxiety.
https://t.co/A7XCU5fC2m
We often avoid taking action because we think "I need to learn more," but the best way to learn is often by taking action.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) September 23, 2020
