“Regular writing makes you a better communicator, thinker and more rational on multiple fronts.”
Many entrepreneurs think writing is the last skill they have time to develop. And they may be right. After all, writing regularly shows no immediate benefits. In fact it takes away the time that could otherwise be used to develop the product or hire new team members. However, writing is similar to dieting. The payoffs are gradual and long term – making all the difference.
Although the value of writing is hard to quantify, successful entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson and Warren Buffet regularly use this practice to reach out to their followers. For them, it plays a crucial role in their leadership. Here are 8 critical reasons why writing is so important for business.
#1. Writing is an essential skill – The number of email users is estimated to be over 2.9 billion by 2019. Majority of your communications happen via emails, irrespective of your preference for phone calls or one-to-one meetings. Writing effectively improves your persuasiveness, approachability and commands greater respect among your colleagues, clients and peers.
Writing is one of the most essential business skill today, the more you write, the quicker you’ll master it.
#2. Writing slows your thinking – Most of us speak naturally. While some of us are natural at holding conversations, most of the times we let words spill without much thinking. However, writing is different. Each word has to be forethought before it is put to paper or the screen. It is a type of slow motion thinking process, giving you time to think of better wordings for every idea.
The practice of writing allows to pick the best wordings with greater precision and ultimately to a more polished end product.
#3. Writing leads to better communication with your audience – Writing eliminates the laziness with words that would otherwise create difficulty in describing feelings. Entrepreneurs who write regularly are better at communications and sharing their experiences. With regular practice, you don’t stumble putting your thoughts into words. Further, it is shown to help communicate complex topics including mathematics and emotional intelligence more effectively.
Writing helps communicate effectively with your audience, without the “I could have narrated it better” guilt.
#4. Improved writing results in better speech – Writing and speech are two different but inter-related skills. Both these functions are controlled by the Broca’s area in the brain, improving one leads to improvement of the other.
While we talk quickly and often without thinking, writing influences our conversation skills. Hence, the more you write, the better you’ll be able to speak.
Entrepreneurs have to interact and converse with investors, clients, employees and partners. The indispensable tool speech, is sharpened simultaneously with writing.
#5. Writing nurtures ideas – In Paul Graham’s words “Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them”. Writing regularly forces you to continuously look out for new topic to think and write, react to other’s ideas and sort your own thoughts. It trains you to be more observant and thoughtful. This helps find faults in your ideas and in viewing them through an outsider’s perspective.
Writing is a means to acquire and master the skill of critical thinking useful for your business.
#6. Writing leads to learning – Reading new information is valuable in every business. Successful entrepreneurs, leaders and experts read something new every day. Yet, few of us develop and practice this essential habit. When we write something, apart from a formal email – it requires us to research to support and validate our opinion.
Writing insightful and inspirational work requires to find new sources of information. It further requires us to be receptive to absorb the information. For many, working on a topic for a specific period lead to writing an essay, which further lead to writing a series of articles and ultimately a book.
This discipline allows you to stay updated in your field of expertise, making you an influencer and trendsetter in your business niche.
#7. Writing makes you a thought leader – Well written and relevant articles position you as an industry expert and help in reaching out to the target audience. Solving your customer’s pain points encourages the potential customers and partners to trust the services or products you offer. In the past, those who spent maximum on ads and promotions were the winners. Today, the best form of marketing aims to educate their audience.
#8. Thoughtful writing makes you precise – Unlike talking, writing doesn’t permit rambling. Each keystroke is thoughtful and takes effort. Moreover, after completion you have to read and edit what you wrote. Doing this tons of time trains you to become concise. You eliminate the clutter and fluff ordinarily included in our conversations. Simultaneously you remove the clutter that occupies your mind and start thinking more precisely.
This leads to higher efficiency in every area, overall improving your performance as an entrepreneur.
Any form of consistent writing, be it a personal blog, guest columns or jotting precise notes positively influences your leadership skills and business acumen.
This post was originally published on Huffington Post.
About me: I’m a writer, content marketer and PR and thought leadership consultant. Catch me on LinkedIn, Twitter.
