in praise of shutting the hell up

Having recently been to lots of interviews, meetings, and coffees, I've been conscious of myself talking a bit too much sometimes. Nerves, poor preparation, leading to jabbering. I also found myself boring someone with a really awful anecdote just yesterday in the pub, and instead of doing the noble thing - stopping halfway and apologising - I finished it to the punchline-less end. This post is my way of saying sorry to the world.




The purpose of talking is to get exchange feelings and ideas to other people. These can be simple, like "I am happy to see you" or more complex ideas such as "why I love planning".

When we abuse this exchange, we're essentially relegating ourselves to the level of mental illness, like the guy outside Primark in Hackney who argues with himself.


Abuse No.1 - Using too many words to get across your idea across


photo from cdmoats

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, one of the most powerful speeches in history, in just 2 minutes, 267 words.

He's also responsible for one of the greatest insults ever, of which is particularly poignant to ad-men:

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."

Abraham Lincoln



photo from david

The Terminator is one of the most memorable and quotable characters in movie history. In Terminator 2, Arnie speaks only 700 words and gets paid 15 million dollars.

Enough said.


Abuse No. 2 - Talking at people when they're not interested in your ideas

This is what you see on really bad dates. One person endlessly talking rubbish, and the other wondering how much of this they can stand before they can shut them up by kissing them. Obviously this is bad, so here are some signs that you should let them talk or change subject.

1. If people start shifting, fidgeting, glancing around, they're bored of you.

2. If their responses (e.g. uh-huh, yuh) become more frequent, and more mono-syllabic, you should also stop talking.

3. If people started out quite bouncy and energetic, and now appear listless, you have sapped them of their will to live.


On talking lots VS doing lots

In actions, doing things, practicing, we learn and gain skills.

Like Russell's possibly apocryphal story about a ceramics class, sometimes the best way to create quality is through quantity. Fail harder and all that.

However, talking isn't like this. No one ever got smarter by talking too much, or by talking -at- people. Giving a lecture doesn't make you smarter, it's the preparation and feedback from students which does.

Excess thinking, yes. Excess writing things and doing things, yes. Excess talking, no.

Word.