Taking something that is complex and communicating it simply is very difficult, but it is worth it. When you make your explanation as simple as it can be, your ideas spread. There is less friction for those that want to listen.

President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in two minutes, yet it became one of the most famous speeches in history. The keynote speaker before Lincoln, Edward Everett, spoke for two hours. Everett later wrote to Lincoln, “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.”

Simple explanations are unfairly seen as less thoughtful or less researched.

Winston Churchill once said, “If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation. If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now.”

Two people are writing about the same subject. One person writes a book and the other person writes the same information on a single sheet of paper. The person that wrote on the piece of paper would have to put in more work than the person that wrote the book. We should want to be the person writing on the single sheet of paper. They need the explanation to be accurate but still make sense. You know their message will be simpler.

Act like they have someplace to be. Simple ideas are sticky, you remember them.

You’ve Got Mail is a remarkable movie because it gets to the point. In the very first scene, it cuts to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks opening their laptop and sending AOL mail back and forth to each other. You get the premise of the story immediately. That movie became popular because even as the movie progressed, everything revolved around a simple message that was communicated simply.

Writing 10,000 words on a team’s upcoming match is not the hill you have to climb. The hill you have to climb happens in the edit. Do you need 10,000 words? Am I adding things that aren’t needed? Is the message clear if I remove this sentence? Is there enough there to be able to understand the what, the why, and the how?

Explaining something simply is a very very hard thing to accomplish, but simple ideas spread. You can apply this to anything: coaching, teaching, speeches, telling stories. Anything.