Your first real win
Think of a message you've been putting off.
Not one that's hard to write in a spelling sense. One that's hard in a stomach sense. The complaint you haven't sent. The reply to the neighbour. The email to the company that's had your money for six weeks. The message to family you've started four times and deleted four times.
Most people have got one sitting there. That's what we're doing now.
Because here's what this is genuinely good at, and it isn't what people tell you. It isn't that it's clever. It's that it gets you past the blank page — and the blank page is the thing that's been stopping you.
The recipe
Four things. That's all it needs.
- Who you are and what happened. The actual details — dates, amounts, what was said, what wasn't done.
- What you want to happen. Specifically. Not "sort it out" — a refund, a date in writing, a call back by Friday.
- The tone you want. Firm. Warm. Formal. Apologetic. This is the one people leave out, and it's the one that makes the difference. Without it you get something that sounds like a robot in a call centre.
- How long it should be. Left alone, it waffles.
A real example
Here's all four, in one message:
I ordered a washing machine from a company six weeks ago. It hasn't arrived. I've phoned twice and been promised a call back both times, and nobody has called. I've now paid £480 for something I don't have.
I want a delivery date in writing within seven days, or a full refund.
Write me an email. Firm and serious but not rude — I don't want to sound like I'm ranting. Keep it short enough that someone will actually read it.
What comes back will be better than most people manage when they're annoyed, and it took twenty seconds.
But it isn't finished. This next part is the important one.
Never send the first one
The first answer is a draft. It is not the finished thing. People treat it as a finished product, and that's the mistake.
Read it back. Is there a phrase in there you'd never use? A word that isn't yours? Something slightly too polite, or not polite enough?
Tell it, in normal words:
Too formal. Make it sound more like a normal person.
Take out the last paragraph, it's waffle.
Add that I've been a customer for eleven years.
Shorter. Half that length.
Do that two or three times and you'll have something that sounds like you wrote it on a good day.
Which is the point. It isn't writing for you. It's getting you to a first draft, so you can do the bit you were always able to do.
Now your turn — properly
Think of your message. The one that's been sitting there.
Give it the four things: what happened, what you want, what tone, how long.
Read what comes back. Change three things about it.
Then come back.
If you did that, you've just done the thing most people never get round to — and it took about four minutes.
That's the whole point of this. Not that it's clever. That it gets things off your list.
Take the cheat sheet with you
I've put the four-part recipe on a single side of A4, along with openings you can copy for the most common awkward messages. Print it and keep it near where you sit.
Read it on the site now — or enter your email and I'll send it over. It's free, and I won't pass your address to anyone.
One lesson to go — and it's the one that keeps you out of trouble.