Day 197: State information positively to put a good spin on it.

You are working on a project, but it is not finished. You saved the company money, but not quite the amount needed. You called customers, but you didn’t reach as many as hoped. The event was well attended, but fewer people came than expected.

You failed. Of course, you don’t want to write that you failed. Instead, put a positive spin on the information. You could write that you failed—or you could write that you nearly succeeded. As an analogy, instead of describing the glass as half empty, describe it as half full.

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“The project is nearly complete.” That’s sounds pretty good.

“The company saved nearly the amount desired.” That’s pretty good, too.

“I almost reached the number of customers expected.” Ok, that sounds fine.

“Attendance was almost as high as expected.” No problem there.

As with any form of spin, you will need to decide two things: 1) What impression are you trying to create? 2) Are you ethically comfortable creating that impression.

Unless you are only giving the raw facts, you will create an impression of some sort. If you write you didn’t succeed, you give an impression, a bad one. This tip will help you give a good one.

Day 198: Use one-sentence paragraphs sparingly.

The one-sentence paragraph is a powerful tool for emphasizing a critical idea. It is a high-impact rhetorical device. However, using too many one-sentence paragraphs, or using one-sentence paragraphs close together in a document, has the opposite effect.

If you use many one-sentence paragraphs, the reader will have difficulty understanding which ideas are the most significant. By trying to emphasize many points, you lose the ability to communicate those that are truly important.

Furthermore, each one-sentence paragraph creates an emotional impact. The reader will need time to recover, meaning the reader is no longer considering new information as it relates to the highimpact statement. If the effect of the previous emotional impact has not yet “worn off,” adding another impact places emotional stress on the reader’s subconscious. Eventually, the reader will become mentally fatigued, and the entire document will lose value.

One last note: This does not apply to journalistic writing. One-sentence paragraphs are a common style for journalistic writing.

In summary, here are three guidelines for using one-sentence paragraphs effectively.

 
  1. Use them only for stand-alone ideas that do not need explanation.
  2. Use them when you want to create heavy emphasis for an idea.
  3. Use them infrequently.