Bring the energy of the first time
My auntie Patsy used to direct the musicals at Christchurch Girls’ High School. They’d get their male cast members from the boys’ school. I still remember the electricity of those performances. Physical comedy, silly voices, amazing singing. With the girls trying to impress the boys and vice versa, every actor went all in every time. In the crowd, we’d roar, totally engaged and enjoying every minute.
When I grew up and went to London, I treated myself to see Sweet Charity in the West End. Nothing could have been more different than Patsy’s musicals. The dancers were flawless, the singers were exceptional, but the show had no heart. At all. They’d performed the same moves over and over again and now it bored them.
They’d forgotten the first rule of performing: that it’s not about how many times you’ve done it. It’s the first time the audience has ever seen the show. You need to bring first-time energy.
Our writing needs to have first-time energy too.
You might have written about this topic a million times
Relationship managers spend half their lives writing proposals about the same products or services
Finance people write hundreds of update reports
Admin people write eye-watering numbers of meeting invitations, agendas, and minutes
You might have written about this topic – to this audience – a million times!
Team leaders might tell their team about a process change 7 or 8 times before everyone changes their process
Senior leaders might feel like they never stop writing about the why behind their organisation's strategy
But the minute your writing takes on the feel of 'How can you not have got this by now??!!' you lose your readers.
Just like at a half-baked play, your audience disengages.
So make it feel like the first time
Bring your personality, your fresh voice, a new perspective, to the same old message.
Be interesting enough that people love to pay attention to your messages.
Make it feel like the first time!
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