The power of simplicity

Shortly after completing my dissertation, an academic colleague pointed me to an American website that asked the simple question, "Can you summarize your dissertation in one sentence?" We laughingly scrolled through the list of hilariously simple, sobering and very accurate descriptions of dissertations from all over the world. Until suddenly it occurred to me, what would that sentence be for my dissertation?

An uneasy feeling crept up. Because I couldn't do that, could I? How could I sum up years of research and analysis in one sentence? I had spent so much time teasing out a square millimeter of history and frankly, the more I learned about my subject the better I understood all that I did not yet know! Writing the dissertation itself had already been a painful process in deleting, deleting and deleting again. I was convinced that with my 450-page dissertation I had really already uncovered the core of my argument....

That one sentence
Of course that was nonsense. I started thinking about what that sentence could be for my dissertation, and ideas came up naturally. Of course, I immediately shot them all down, because they lacked nuance, didn't do justice to this or that, forgot this or that etc. etc. etc. etc. But still. In the end, about three candidates did remain, which to an outsider probably just meant the same thing. I could finally say that I could sum up all of my research in one sentence.

And it felt liberating to find that phrase! It was like an anchor for everything I had to say on the subject. Of course, that sentence alone was not enough to understand all the depth and nuance. But it was the core, stripped of all frills, all (sometimes sought after...) academic stylistics, details and veiled language. I could even use that phrase to sharpen my text even more. It had become my filter for what was relevant and what did not fit into my argument. My own view of my topic became sharper, which made my texts and stories sharper as well.

Your 10 second version
It was the insight about the power of simplicity that I still see daily on stage and by experiencing it myself. What exactly is the core of what you want to say? Speakers who know that have it easy. They can improvise, add depth, or respond to unexpected events because they always know how to come back to their main message. And that one is always short and simple.

So challenge yourself the next time you need to tell a story to think about your 10-second version first. What is your story in a few sentences? If you know that, you can build from there with a nice intro, funny anecdotes, a joke here and there - without losing sight of the core. And your audience will get crystal clear on exactly what your main message is. Because if you can't say it in ten seconds, you can't say it in ten hours.

And oh yes, I can also spare you 450 pages of dissertation. Because my sentence was, "Conflicting memories of the Vietnam War led to completely contradictory American policies in the 1980s and 1990s, all of which were implemented." But I could tell you a lot more about that...