# The Smart Brevity Pledge

By [The Elements of Producing](https://paragraph.com/@the-elements-of-producing) · 2023-01-09

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Word Count: 232 | Read Time: > 1 min.

This is not your normal newsletter.

We are in a golden age of word dumping, aka the art of being verbose to inflate one’s own ego. _The Elements of Producing_ is not that. It’s short blurbs on the style of producing and life's waypoints, all from a proven Executive Producer— Mike Rekola.

**WHY IT MATTERS…**

Smart Brevity, that’s the goal. Distill important concepts (about life, self-discovery, and filmmaking)— quickly and succinctly. Earning you, time back to enjoy the silence.

*   Humans spend an average of 26 seconds reading content.
    
*   Humans scan, not read, almost everything that pops up on our screens.
    
*   It takes only 17 milliseconds for our brain to decide if we like what we see, otherwise, we move on to the next article, tweet, meme, or text.
    

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**THE BOTTOM LINE:**

All creators face an epic challenge: How do I get others to pay attention, in this dumpster fire of adulting?

**MY ANSWER:** I’ll honor you, my reader with the **Smart Brevity Pledge**.

I promise to share with you new and revolutionary ideas. Then stop. I won’t dilute it with flourishing words, long caveats, nor pointless asides.

**GO DEEPER…**

*   Smart Brevity is a concept designed by Axios founders": Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz. You can pick up their manual of style, [here](https://www.axios.com/smart-brevity).
    
*   Watch Jim’s TED Talk on Smart Brevity 👇
    
    [![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGy1o4jLkJc)

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*Originally published on [The Elements of Producing](https://paragraph.com/@the-elements-of-producing/the-smart-brevity-pledge)*