There’s a difference between being brief and being productive.
What springs to mind easily is always what we have thought before, and it often doesn’t begin with our own thought. The familiar is always readily available and the familiar includes all the false and half-true things that we have ever learned. The familiar reinforces the status quo.
All the people urging you to produce short, clear messaging as quickly as possible might as well be saying “communicate something familiar and non-threatening, something that won’t change anything.”
The important thing, the thing that will make positive change happen, is not on the surface and it’s not obvious as you look at the status quo. It’s not easy for you to see, and it’s even less easy for you to communicate to people who are blinded by the familiar. These are two different stages: first you uncover the important for yourself. Then you remove the covers for someone else.
NLP is, among other things, a methodology for coming at an issue from different perspectives until you understand what is different and important. With that knowledge, you are more capable of crafting a brief message that interrupts the flow of the routine and prompts new recognition or action.
It’s not always quick. But is more productive than being faster by repeating what everyone already knows.
