They say that if you want to get good results, copying successful people’s best practices is a great way to start.
So, let’s take a look at one of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ work habits.
Before his team meets to discuss new products or ideas, Bezos would require an executive to prepare a six-page memo structured like a narrative.
How long do you think it takes that person to draw it up? A few hours? A couple of days? Nope. Try one whole week.
Why does it take so long, you ask? Well, for starters, the executive writes and rewrites the memo and then shares it with colleagues who give suggestions on how to improve the content. After a couple of days, the assigned editor goes back to it to refine it further with a fresh mind.
Bezos and his team then spend the first 20 minutes of the succeeding meeting in silence – reading the memo, taking notes, and coming up with their own talk points. For Bezos, the better written the memo, the better (and more productive) the following discussion becomes.
This Amazon practice is also known as the rule of writing – and here’s how it can help you -and your company- get great results too.
What is The Rule of Writing ?
If you want to clarify your thoughts, remember something important, or communicate something more clearly, you should write it down.
Why? Our thoughts are usually tangled and mixed up – and writing them down can help us organise them into something coherent and cohesive. Through this method, you can significantly level up the way you think and communicate.
Benefits of Writing Things Down
Interestingly, writing things down can help you grow as an individual and as an entrepreneur. Let’s break down three major benefits and see how they can work for you:
It Clarifies Your Thinking Process
Meetings can be disorienting without a clear structure or agenda. Or worse, when someone just won’t stop talking.
And sometimes, you might have a good question in mind, but it might come out wrong when you fumble the words.
Here’s where the rule of writing comes in. Rather than blurting out questions or bringing up a point, write them down first.
Once you do, one of these things may happen:
- You’ll realise that you need to ask a completely different question instead.
- You find out that there’s no need to ask the question anymore.
- You end up figuring out the answer on your own while writing down your thoughts and observations.
Clear writing = clear thinking.
It Improves Your Understanding
Experienced writers know that in order to write well, you have to look at the work of other great writers. This way, you’ll see which writing styles are most effective for communicating certain ideas to serve a certain purpose.
So, how does this apply to SME’s and entrepreneurs?
Writing consistently can help develop your distinct voice and improve your understanding, memory, and application. Writing forces you to slow down and think, enabling you to choose better ideas, identify important key points, and better understand crucial issues.
Aside from helping you conduct meetings more efficiently and effectively, this process will also give you a more in-depth understanding of your processes – and alert you to opportunities for improvement and growth.
It Paves the Way for Better Communication
Great speakers are able to organise their thoughts to better communicate an idea. And the secret to an organised speech is, again, writing things down.
The same goes for meetings and other forms of company-wide communication.
Once you’re able to structure your points, you can then anticipate the questions your team members and colleagues might have and incorporate answers to those in your presentation.
As a result, you’re setting things up for a high-quality discussion, thus encouraging better output from everyone else.
Looking for someone who can help you manage your notes and meetings? We got you!
Remote Staff has been assisting AU SMEs and entrepreneurs like you find and hire skilled remote workers from the Philippines for the last 15 years and counting. Aside from talented writers who can help you write better memos, we also have virtual assistants who can take care of the scheduling meetings and organising your calendar.
Call us today or schedule a call back and let’s get started.
Serena has been working remotely and writing content for the better part of the last decade. To date, she's written for Pepper.ph and Mabuhay Magazine, among others, and has churned out more than a thousand articles on everything from The Basics of Stock Market Investing to How to Make Milk Tea-Flavored Taho at home.
