Stop serving five asks in one email

Can you believe it's September already?

Hope you had a great summer (or winter, if you're reading this from below the equator).

For us it was two weeks in Slovenia, where we played our favourite holiday game at the buffet: Combination Abominations.

It's where you spot the most horrendous plate combinations other guests have put together.

This year's top spots:

• Grapefruit, strawberries and baked beans topped with a pain au raisin

• Fried egg, lettuce, tomato and porridge

• And the winner, for its sheer minimalist confidence: a chicken drumstick, flanked by two slices of chocolate cake

Why? Why do people do this? Why pile it all onto one plate? The buffet's right there. Why let bean juice anywhere near a grapefruit?

I can only think it's laziness, or a misguided stab at efficiency, or some deep aversion to washing up an extra plate.

We do exactly the same thing in our comms.

We rarely stop to ask what matters most right now. We just pile on everything we could possibly say.

And we end up with an abomination combination of our own: one email, five asks, three attachments, all mushed together into something nobody wants to digest.

The best thing you can do for your comms (and your dining) is prioritise. So how do you keep your plate simple and delicious?

Pick your one dish. Decide, before you write a word, the single thing you want the reader to know or do. Everything else is a side.

Serve it first. Whatever sits at the top of the email/message/memo is what actually gets eaten, so put the drumstick there.  

Save the chocolate cake for later, in a separate communication, an appendix or P.S.

So tell me, what’s the worst combination abomination you’ve seen? (either food or words!)