How I’m Training on Blog Posts to Be a Clear Communicator
In 2026 I see, what look to me to be, tons of AI-generated social media posts and content. How many of those are read by people and how many by other AIs? How many are actually clear on what to do?
Whether the audience is an AI or a person, leading with clarity and brevity wins out. They don’t need more; they need to see the point with minimal effort.
“Context is everything, so the real value lies in deeply understanding your unique situation. In the AI era, the bottleneck isn’t information — it’s your own clarity.”
— Cassie Kozyrkov, Decision-Making Got Faster, But Did It Get Smarter?
Blogs as a Training Ground
Just like practicing for impromptu speaking in Table Topics at Toastmasters, you can learn to get to the meat quickly through practice. We do this at every meeting for 1-3 minutes.
Blogging is like that. One post about one topic. Straight to the point. Compare today’s posts to yesterday’s or last year’s and see if I’m getting clearer, simpler, and more to the point.
“You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.”
— James Clear, Atomic Habits
Writing blog articles is a great way to learn how to create clear, to-the-point communication. You can compare the articles chronologically and see your progress.
The Right Level of Detail
Blogs help me think at the right level of detail, since they are short and to the point. Not books, maybe more like a short magazine article.
It’s helping me fight the habit of quickly writing a lot of pages, with AI even more, that obscure the point. AI isn’t great at choosing what to cut. Ask it to say it in fewer words and the message starts to look like a pixelated, over-compressed image.
I find the best communications try to hammer home 1-3 points. Any more than that and my presentations start to lose clarity. Clarity with brevity is even better. Cut the fat and get right to the meat, so nothing distracts.
“The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest.”
— Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand
Carmine Gallo, in Talk Like TED, has a rule of thumb that a good TED talk’s slides have fewer than 40 written words. Some TED presentations don’t even have 40 words in them. Just key points and setting the scene with visuals.
Cutting the fat is hard and scary. It seems like I’m wired for additive solutions — just one more thing and it will be perfect. Removing stuff takes a lot of time and courage.
“Simplicity is hopelessly subtle, and many of its defining characteristics are implicit (noting that it hides in S__IMPLICIT__Y).”
— John Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity
Don’t Break the Streak
I’ve only just started blogging in 2026. I can’t wait to see my progress in August of 2027. Will the practice of blogging at lunch have had an impact? I’ve posted several times this week, will it continue?
I hope by then it’s a healthy habit and that I can see my progress in black and white, post by post. One practice article at a time.
“‘Don’t break the chain’ is a powerful mantra.”
— James Clear, Atomic Habits