Attention

Be broad. Years ago I briefly wrote for the  Wall Street Journal , and an editor told me: “Your job is to write something that a hedge fund manager will find informative but a complete novice will understand.” It sounds lofty, but I think it’s possible in almost any field. Writing in clear language anyone can comprehend does not mea

In school they tell you your paper must be a minimum of five pages long. In the real world you have five seconds to catch someone’s attention before they’re bored and move on.

Getting people’s attention has never been easy, but social media made it a nightmare. Someone reading a book 20 years ago had few other distractions in front of them. Today your phone offers an Olympic competition for your dopamine.

The solution for many writers has been a combination of clickbait, pandering, and fear-mongering. The loudest voi

There are three types of written content: You can give people information; you can give them an opinion; or you can try to change the way they think. The first is ultra-competitive. The second pulls you towards pandering. The third is, I think, by far the most powerful, and the best way to not only get but keep people’s attention.