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complete personal organizer boasts numerous features to
streamline your personal and business activities. An added ben-
efit: it’s affordable.” The Art of Anticipating 101
4. Be specific. Vagueness invariably spawns unsatisfactory or
incomplete results. Consider this vague request: “Please see me
soon about the project I assigned to you.”
More precise so much better: “Please see me tomorrow at 9
a.m. to discuss the budget for the Forbin project.”

5. Organize your writing via dashes, numbers, bullet points,
bold print, underlines, italics, and punctuation. Too often, peo-
ple have little time for patient, thorough reading of business
communications. To “predigest” what you write for your reader
achieves two results: it maximizes comprehension and it helps
you organize your thoughts. Indeed, this book has deployed
such organizational tactics throughout.
Here’s an example: “We should for security establish a poli-
cy that no one can issue refunds in any situation unless the per-
son is a vice president, manager, or supervisor.”
This version would be far easier to absorb: “For security, we
should establish the following policy: No one can issue refunds
in any situation unless that
person is a:
Keep It Casual
• Vice president
A conversational style is usu-
• Manager ally best for modern communication.
• Supervisor” Everyone uses contractions (“he’ll,”
“doesn’t,” “that’s,” etc.) in speech
The Wallenda Effect because they’re easier (and quicker).
The same tendency applies to writing.
As he was getting on in
Unless your communication is intend-
years, Karl Wallenda, the ed to be formal, using contractions
still-skilled patriarch of the and casual language can transmit your
famous “Flying Wallendas” ideas better. They help to “speed up”
family, opted to try one the reading process because of their
more stunt. He would walk familiarity, and they help make the act
of reading complex material less
a tightrope between two
intimidating.
skyscrapers.