Big, unnecessary words get in the way of a message. Sure, people could paraphrase the message into simpler words. But why should they have to do all the work for your message?
I spent nearly 14 years as an oil and gas land professional. I think one reason I stayed in the field so long is because that's eventually how I branded myself—as a land professional. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing else.
The problem, I eventually realized, was that I was never really a land professional. I just played one. On TV, as the joke goes. And pretending and acting as one was how I earned a living for nearly a decade and a half.
I work with a guy who's former military. Air Force, to be specific. A wingnut, some might call him. At least my high school basketball coach would have.
So many of us have this habit of romanticizing great writing.
We dream of the genius writers sitting alone at their desks, sipping on a cappuccino as the perfect words flow from their minds through their hands and onto the page.
And so, when we sit down for our own writing, this is the image we're seeking to emulate.