In conversation you can get away with all kinds of vagueness and nonsense, often without even realizing it. But there’s something about putting your thoughts on paper that forces you to get down to specifics. —Lee Iacocca
I’ve always been impressed by people who can speak in paragraphs. You know, the person who can reel off a complete summary of something. Many of my college professors had this ability—to lecture, scarcely looking at their notes, in complete and full thoughts.
They avoided Iacocca’s “vagueness and nonsense” in their conversation. I cannot do this. Often, I find myself circling around an idea, in gravitational orbit around it, never quite getting to the idea itself, instead just zipping around it over and over again.
The problem is that when I’m actually talking, it doesn’t feel this way. That orbit feels pretty good!
As Iacocca observes, writing stuff is a good reality check. Have we landed on the idea yet? Or are we still in orbit somewhere?
Taylor Coe 