We live in an age where one misplaced Twitter post can end your career.
And so in our work as creators, collaborators, artists, and students, we need to think about communication more than ever.
This is hard when most of it is text on a page. We lose the nuance. When someone is joking with us, we can take it offensively. Or when someone is just being nice, we can take it as them hitting on us.
But if you follow some simple rules, you can save yourself from unexpected peril.
Dr. Emerson Eggerichs wrote a fantastic book called Before You Hit Send.
While it’s centered around digital communication, you could use the rules for all communication. It’s simple. But different from how most of us operate.
Before you send anything, ask four questions.
1. Is it necessary?
This alone eliminates about 90% of everything you see on social media.
2. Is it kind?
If you have to send something direct, write it and sleep on it. Come back to it and ask, “Is there any way I could be offended if I were receiving this?”
Otherwise, write to others as you would have them write unto you.
3. Is it clear?
Could a fifth-grader understand it? Even though we wrote all manner of complex papers in school, it’s not how normal people communicate. Or talk. Or write, for that matter.
4. Is it true?
I never thought I’d live in a time when the definitions of truth and honesty were questioned. But here we are.
Follow these four rules, and you can’t go wrong with any of your communication. With friends, family, co-workers, administrators, and anyone else you want to have an impact on.