[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people. And thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my
favorite online business podcast, if you are listening, watching and tuning in on the day that it
drops, it is Monday, June 1st. Goddamn, it's already June.
In an effort to make this episode meta, and honestly, it's already meta because look how fast
everything and quickly everything is going, but in an effort to make this episode meta, we're going
to hop right on into the main topic today, which is, wow, I need a haircut and also the secret to
brevity, right? The quote unquote secret to brevity. So today's episode inspired by the good
homie, Sarah. She was in round one of my podcast, my podcast program called Press Publish.
We'll drop the link for round four, probably end on that in the fall, but we'll drop the link for round
four, but she was in round one and I still talked to that crew, I still talked to all the crews, but I still
talked to that crew probably the most, and she asked about how I'm able to keep, keep these
episodes so short and it was a great question and I was like, let me share this with you fine folks.
So the number one reason, I'm ready for this. The number one reason why these episodes are all
shorter than 20 minutes is because that is how long my camera will record for before it needs to
be reset.
That is literally, it is an externally imposed limitation. It is an externally imposed parameter. If you
notice before I started, maybe you probably don't even notice, but before I started doing video,
some of the episodes would be longer.
If I have a guest, obviously they're longer, but if it's just me, some of them will be longer now that I
do video. I've been doing it for the past few years. They are all shorter than 20 minutes.
Sometimes it'll go over, but it requires extra editing on my part. And so I was like, I don't want to
do that. So perhaps you were feeling a little let down by that answer, but it is the truth, which
reminds me of a story that I read, heard somewhere at some point in time, I'm pretty sure I read it
on Instagram, but it was about a tradition that this woman had of cutting the ends off of a roast
before putting it into the oven, she had been taught that tradition and that approach by her mom.
And her mom said that she had taught it and taught that by her grandmother, by her own mom.
So that woman's grandmother and that woman was just always under the impression that this
was like, you know, a specific thing. And she was like, I'm going to act when I have a daughter,
I'm going to pass it.
When I have a kid, I'm going to pass it on. Let's make it gender neutral. When I have a kid, I'm
going to pass it on.
And this is how we, this is how we make these roasts. And at one point she was like, actually, let
me, let me ask grandma about that. So called up grandma, let's make it even more fun.
They were sitting around as dinner and ask grandma. And she was like, why do you, you know
what, why do we always cut the ends off of the roasts? And the grandma goes, oh, because
when I first started making them, the oven that I had was too small and it was the only way they
would fit inside. Right.
That's, I really liked that story. And sometimes that's literally it, right? We want it to be this big
thing. And it's just like, no, the brevity and the outcome in this case was literally just as simple as
externally imposed limitations on the task.
And this is why I always taught folks to record stories, Instagram stories inside of Instagram,
because when you record directly to your phone outside of Instagram, you have as long as you
want, right? It'll just like record forever until your battery dies. Whereas when you're inside of
Instagram and you're recording stories natively in the app, you have that little timer thing, right?
And you can only record for 60 seconds, which is like typically actually like 59, cause it does cut
you off, but like you see it going around and you're like, well, this is it. All right.
So plain and simple, the first strategy to, in order to execute my suggested strategy in order to
execute something with brevity is simply externally imposed limitations. I know it sounds sexy, but
it's true. Second strategy is focus.
And by focus, I don't mean just like trying really hard to focus and be like, I'm just going to make it
shorter. I mean, getting specific about one thing, right? The one thing that you're going to be
talking about, presenting whatever you're gonna be sharing and not going off on any tangents,
right? If we're talking specifically, specifically about podcasts, this is why I write an outline. Right?
Again, circling back to the camera situation, I didn't want to have to do the extra editing that's
required in order to stitch multiple videos together.
Um, and so I wanted to make sure that I could get it all done within one take. Additionally, the
stop and start, if I'm just recording audio only, it's not that big of a deal to stop and start and just
like, you know, uh, splice them together. It is more work when you have a video.
So I was like, I don't want to flub up and make mistakes and then have to go back and edit this
stuff. So I'm going to make sure that I get it done in one shot. And also that I can get it done
under that 20 minute time cap.
So I started making outlines. I didn't use to use outlines for the podcast episodes. Um, but I was
like, yo, I got to stay on task.
So I'm making an outline. I'm going to stay focused. I'm making an outline.
All right. It also allows me to plan it out. So not only does it let me stay on, force me to stay on
task while I'm actually delivering it, but when I'm planning it, I can make sure, am I focused on the
one thing, is this the one thing I'm gonna be talking about? Did I deliver my point? Amazing.
All right. I can just make sure that I'm talking about the thing that I need and want to be talking
about. Right? So the second strategy for delivering with brevity is focus.
Third strategy, practice. Right? We all know how much easier it is to just like say or write more.
And I'm not talking about like when we were younger and they were like, write a 10 page paper
and I was like, fuck you.
No, I'm talking about like when it's just like, it is much easier, right? This is why I'm making this
episode to just keep going and like say all the things I'm like, okay, cool. It's done. All right.
Brevity is very much a skill. Right. And that's a good thing because since it's a skill, that means
that you can practice it, you can work on it and you can get better at it, right? Especially if you
utilize the two previous strategies while practicing.
Right? The two previous strategies being to have those, you know, externally imposed limitations
and focus. So we know it is tough. Brevity is tough.
There's a famous quote. It's actually from Blaise Pascal, but often and incorrectly attributed to
Mark Twain. And the quote is, I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.
It is like, I want us to like just accept that like it is more difficult to be brief, but practice can help
with this. I also understand why practice helps is that the repetition that comes from practice, and
especially between the same thing that's over and over again, it inherently helps with that brevity
because you learn that shit. You're like, yo, I know it now I can deliver it really quickly.
And you also in that process, convince yourself of the truth of this statement, whatever it is you're
talking about. Hopefully it's objectively true, but you hearing it so much, you're like, yeah, this is
true. I can just boom, boom, boom, rattle it off.
And that also just allows for some of that brevity. Makes it easier, makes it faster, makes it
shorter. The last strategy is practice.
The last, the fourth and final strategy is to lean into confidence. Now this is more of like an after
effect because I do believe that confidence is a byproduct of action, right? Confidence comes
from doing the thing, but it is something that I want folks to be cognizant of and to actually take
note of because part of what prevents brevity are all the caveats we feel we have to throw out
there and the need to justify and overexplain things, right? Which is not to be confused with
nuance. When we need nuance, lean into that, please.
We need more of it. Honestly, in general, in social media, we need more of it, but sometimes we
make a caption longer because we're like preemptively trying to defend ourselves and like get
ahead of the trolls, which again, does have a time and a place, right? I talk about eight miling
things. Go see that one.
We can watch that movie if you haven't, and you'll understand what I'm talking about with that,
what I'm referencing. But sometimes the reason that we'd be writing more stuff and making this
thing really long is because we're like, Oh, I gotta like explain it and justify it and like make sure
they understand it. So tying this back into that third strategy of practice is do it, make the thing
shorter, lean into brevity, write less, put that thing out into the world, whatever medium it is, then
realize that you didn't die.
And then it's okay to take, to, to say less, right? Believe the evidence that you have generated
and use that to build your confidence, right? Take it, store it, remember it, gain confidence from it,
and then lean into doing it again, you know, whenever next you want to, to lean into brevity, right?
So worth noting with all of this, why are we leaning into brevity? Why do you want brevity?
Sometimes things do need more words and that's a fine. It's not a bad thing. Use more words.
Fucking patriarch, you got women out here scared to say anything about anything, immediately,
no. Say that shit with your whole chest and take up space. But if in fact it is that you want this
thing to be shorter because you only have a certain amount of time to execute something or
whatever the reason it's truly and genuinely yours, consider the four suggestions, the four
strategies that I gave you, right? Externally imposed limitations, focus, practice, and leaning into
confidence.
All right. Look at that brief. That is all I have for today.
Keeping it meta, leaning into brevity. All right. I will say, I'm going to use a few seconds here
because I haven't done it in quite some time.
If you're enjoying the show, one, thank you. But if you haven't done so already, I would love if you
left a little rating or a review, reviews are great because I can read them, but ratings are fun as
well. So tap your tap, hit them stars.
Would love it. I know you can do something on Spotify. I don't really know what that is.
So I'm talking to the Apple users. If that's not you, well, that's fine too. Just, I appreciate you being
here.
If you're watching, I appreciate that. All right. Going to wrap it up there.
Keeping it short, keeping it brief. As always, endlessly, endlessly, one more time, endlessly
appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, maestro.
Maybe I'll have a haircut as well. Out.
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