We spend five percent determining our purpose the purpose for the communication next it’s five percent identifying the main point twenty percent of the time is spent then on selecting the information to include if you’re a reporter you might be going out and doing research at that point if you’re inside your organization planning a message you might be gathering that information or doing assessments or reading doing primary research asking other people formulating your thoughts all of that is part of selecting the information and the next piece is organizing that information that’s also 20% of a professional writers job now let’s do some quick math if we add it all up on above the line we have 55%. Find more useful advices for developing your professional writing skills on Edusson.
Well that’s interesting 55 percent of their time is spent thinking about the writing planning the writing but not writing yet 55% so then the other 45% is spent writing a quick first draft that’s 20% revising and editing another 20% and then proofing and correcting 5% so 45 percent of their time is spent writing whereas the the larger portion 55 percent is on planning so what does that tell us it tells us that planning is very important to writing so for clear and effective communication you need to spend time planning your message before you write we like to say it’s like money in the bank you can save more time if you put some money in time away save it for a rainy day okay so your time is well spent on planning in writing some more benefits of planning you’ll find fewer miscommunications less time spent clarifying less time spent rewriting a more positive professional image getting the results you need and seizing opportunities okay again it’s like money in the bank the benefits of planning will pay off in fact we did a research project we did a survey at write it well and we asked people what happens when you receive unclear or confusing communication from people and 85% of them said that they form a negative impression of the reader and of his or her organization.
So really this benefit of planning is a benefit to you professionally as well as to your organization and its business goals so let’s jump into our planning process and decode those five important steps so that you can replicate this planning process anytime you write it anything important to anyone all right so the first step is to look at your what you’re writing from the readers point of view we’ve got some binoculars here which show the point of really thinking about who your reader is what do they care about okay so sit down as you are now and focus on the next important message that you need to write to somebody who is your reader really imagine them on the other side of the email communication or reading your report in printed form or seeing it on their screen really think about that reader visualize them.