I like to think of communication as drawing a map, or giving directions.

I’m not suggesting that you need to spell out everything completely- that’s impossible. That’s the equivalent of drawing a map that’s identical to reality, or telling someone about every single detail of every single object they would see along the way to where they want to go. It would be worthless.

What we need to work towards is being able to give better directions, to draw clearer and more useful maps! Often, less is more. People can only absorb so much- once you bombard them with more information than their threshold permits, they will start to tune out. Additional information will actually reduce your chances of being understood. Think about it.

We live in an age of limitless information but limited time, so the best skill you can have is knowing how to choose the most useful bits to give the best possible map with the fewest possible details.

It’s hard to think of a better skill set to develop! Your own understanding of your own area of expertise will practically quadruple- it’s like defragmenting your brain.