Several weeks ago I went to see the movie “A Thousand Words.” If you haven’t seen it, here is a short summary without giving too much away.
Eddie Murphy plays a narcissistic literary agent who, as a result of his past behavior, gets himself in a situation where with every word he says, a leaf drops off a tree in his backyard. When all the leaves are gone, he dies. The tree has 1,000 leaves; therefore, he has 1,000 words.
My first thought was, “Wow, this has so much application for our online world today.” And I continued to mull the application over until today.
As I scan Twitter, LinkedIn, various blogs, and all other online mediums, I see that most people are saying A LOT. There seems to be a pervasive attitude that in order to attract many people, many words need to be spoken many times over.
While more words are permissible, more words aren’t always beneficial.
Sometimes I think we speak more when we really don’t know what to say. Or if we are unsure if what we are saying is actually meaningful.
Here’s the problem: More words don’t always reflect more meaning.
And isn’t it meaning that engages people?
Here’s what I advocate: Fewer words, more meaning.
Don’t just fill in the white space on your screen. Engage people with meaning.
Here’s the challenge: Take the mindset of 1,000 words.
Start limiting yourself to 1,000 words per week online. Or maybe for some of you the limit needs to be 1,000 per day. Pick the time frame that will make you stop and question whether each word you are writing will be meaningful to whomever you are writing it.
Fewer words, more meaning.
Let us know how it goes…
(This post just cost me 293 words; I hope it was meaningful to you. )

