How to Write Less but Say More | Jim VandeHei | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

So I've got some tough medicine for you.

我有些苦口的良藥想給大家。

The truth is that everybody in this room

事實是，

在場的每個人都需要徹底 重新思考自己溝通的方式，

needs to radically rethink how you communicate,

especially how you write,

特別是撰寫的方式，

if you want anything to stick in this distracted digital world.

才能讓你想傳達的內容留存在 這個讓人分心的數位世界。

I don't care if you're a student, if you're an academic,

我不在你乎你是學生、 學者、科學家，

if you're a scientist, you're a CEO, a manager.

執行長，或經理。

I'll tell you what the data told me that your friends won't tell you,

我會告訴各位資料告訴我什麼，

你的朋友不會告訴你這些，

which is almost nobody listens to or reads most of what you write.

那就是：幾乎沒有人會聆聽或閱讀

你所寫的大部分內容。

Most of the stuff that you agonize thinking about,

大部分你絞盡腦汁想出來的內容，

they pay no attention to.

他們完全不會注意。

And how do I know this?

我怎麼會知道？我吃了 不少苦頭才學到的。

Well, I learned it the hard way.

我投入一生的工作， 就是在大量生產文字。

I've dedicated my entire life to mass producing words.

I was a journalist by training.

我是受過專業教育的記者，

Started at the "Oshkosh Northwestern."

第一份工作是在 《西北奧什科什報》，

Worked my way up to covering the presidency

一路向上爬，為《華盛頓郵報》

for "The Washington Post" and the "Wall Street Journal."

和《華爾街日報》 撰寫總統相關報導。

我還成立了兩間傳媒公司， 全都是在大量生產文字，

And I started two media companies, all about mass producing words.

Politico and now Axios.

分別是 Politico 和現在的 Axios。

And at my current company,

在我目前的公司，

the entire premise of the company

公司的根本目的就是教導記者，

is to teach journalists and then CEOs, academics and others

接著教導執行長、學者，及其他人，

how to use far fewer words.

如何把使用的文字量大大減少。

So why?

所以，為什麼？

我一生都在撰寫大量文字， 為什麼想要別人少用點文字？

Why, if I spent my entire life writing lots of words,

do I want people to use fewer of them?

Because the data -- and you -- made me.

因為資料和各位讓我必須要這麼做。

If you actually look at what you're doing --

如果你真的去看看你在做什麼——

One of the most interesting things about technology,

科技最有趣的其中一項特性，

one of the creepiest things about technology is

科技最讓人發毛的其中一項特性，

就是企業對你瞭若指掌。

businesses know so much about you.

What you do, where you go, what you buy.

它們知道你做什麼、 你去哪裡、你買什麼。

And in the case of a media company, how you consume information.

傳媒公司還知道你如何消費資訊。

And the data about how you consume information is eye-popping.

各位如何消費資訊的資料 真的會讓人瞠目結舌，

And to be honest, for me, really humbling.

且，老實說，對我而言， 還會讓人變謙遜。

And led to this journey about,

因而造成了這段旅程：

哇，如果我看了資料， 而資料基本上說的是，

wow, if I'm looking at this data

and the data basically says: you read almost nothing.

你幾乎都沒讀。

You skim. You might look at a headline.

你會快速瀏覽。

你可能會讀標題。

You might look at a subject line.

你可能會讀主題。

But you're basically not reading the stories,

但基本上你沒有在讀內容，

就我的例子來說， 是我們產出的內容。

in my case, that we were producing.

And the most humbling moment, the eye-opening, the aha moment for me:

對我而言，最讓人謙遜、 瞠目結舌，恍然大悟的時刻：

I was a journalist, I was at Politico writing columns about President Obama.

我是記者，我在 Politico 工作，

撰寫關於歐巴馬總統的專欄。

And we wrote this column, and I looked at the traffic numbers

我們寫這個專欄，

我會看流量數字，

and the White House had to respond to it.

且白宮得做出回應。

And boy, was I feeling cool and smart ...

哇，我覺得自己又酷又聰明……

until I looked at the data.

直到我看了資料。

So back then you had to paginate pages online.

那時，你得在線上 把文章分頁、編頁，

And so, you know, you had to click from one page to the next to keep reading.

所以，要持續閱讀的話， 你得從這一頁點選到下一頁。

And I looked at the data.

而我看了資料，這是 一千六百字的專欄，

This was a 1600-word column

that everyone in Washington was talking about,

華盛頓的每個人都在談它， 讓我覺得信心滿滿。

that had me feeling so confident.

And I realized almost nobody went past the first page.

而我發現，

幾乎沒有人看完第一頁。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

It gets worse.

還有更糟的。

On one page, there's only 450 words.

一頁上面只有四百五十個字。

And I hid a lot of the good stuff at the end.

我還把很多好料留到文末。

結果發現，大家在回應、 分享、談論的報導，

And so it turns out that people were responding, sharing,

talking about a story that almost nobody read.

竟然幾乎沒有人讀過。

And so it put me on sort of this journey, this discovery.

這讓我踏上了一段旅程， 發現之旅，我心想，

I'm like, really, like, nobody reads anything?

真的？沒人閱讀了嗎？

Is this true everywhere, is it just me, is there something about my writing?

這現象很普遍或者我是特例？ 是因為我寫的內容嗎？

So I called my friends at the "New York Times."

於是我打電話給我在 《紐約時報》的朋友，

I called our friends at Facebook.

我打給我們在臉書的朋友。

I started to talk to academics

我開始去找學者談，

and try to figure out, well, what's going on here.

試圖搞懂這是怎麼一回事。

Because I had a choice at this point.

因為此時我得做個選擇。

I could give up on all of you. I could give up on humanity.

我可以放棄你們所有人， 可以放棄人性，可以放棄

I could give up on my career.

我的職涯。

Or I could do what basically Jeff Bezos would do

或者我可以學學傑夫‧貝佐斯

if he's trying to sell you a shoe or get you to buy a book.

想要銷售鞋子給你 或讓你買書時的做法。

Which is, what is the data telling us?

就是去看看資料告訴 我們什麼、你想要什麼、

What do you want? What are you doing?

你在做什麼。

And that data was showing that one,

而資料顯示，第一，

everybody was getting hit with more information than ever before

比起以前，大家現在被更多 資訊轟炸且一直在分心，

and is perpetually distracted,

all because of the internet.

全是因為網際網路。

You skim. You don't really read.

你會快速瀏覽，不會真的閱讀。

你在分享文章的時候甚至不想費心

And you share stuff without even bothering to see what it actually means

真正了解它的意涵或內容在說什麼。

or what the story might say.

And if you think about it,

想想看，當我挖得越深，

the deeper I dug, the more it actually made sense.

就越覺得合理。

For people who are my age or older,

對我這個年齡或更老的人而言，

like once upon a time, the iPhone didn't exist.

很久很久以前， iPhone 並不存在，

The Android didn't exist.

安卓並不存在。

There was no Facebook. There was no Google.

那時沒有臉書，沒有 Google。

If you wanted to learn about something new,

如果你想學新東西，

you had to go to an encyclopedia.

你得去找百科全書。

You wanted to look up a word, you went to a dictionary.

你想查一個字就得找字典。

If you were waiting for news,

如果你在等新聞，

you had to wait for the evening news or the morning newspaper.

你得等到晚間新聞或早上的報紙。

And then suddenly 2007, that period comes along,

接著，突然，2007 年，

那個時期到來了，

and now all of us had the opportunity to have a smartphone

現在所有人都有機會擁有智慧手機，

with astonishing capabilities

智慧手機的能力驚人，

to give us access to more information than at any point of humanity.

讓我們能取得比人類史上 任何時期都還要多的資訊。

Any idea we had, anything we didn't know,

有任何點子，有什麼不知道的，

we could Google it.

就問 Google 大神。

Any idea we had, no matter how stupid it was,

有任何想法，不論多蠢都可以分享。

we could share it.

And not only could we share it,

不僅可以分享它， 我們還能找到一些人

we could find other people who would applaud,

會按讚拍手，會追蹤、仰慕我們。

who would follow us, who'd fan us.

And suddenly, oh my gosh,

突然間，喔，老天， 我們可以大規模取得

like, we've got all this access to mass information at scale.

各式各樣的大量資訊， 而且還免費呢。

And you could do this for free.

You could do this for free.

取得資訊不要錢。

So suddenly we're getting hit with all this information,

所以，突然間， 我們被各種資訊轟炸，

and I don't think our species was built to keep up with it.

我不認為人類的能力 可以跟得上這些資訊。

I talked to a guy at the University of Maryland

馬里蘭大學有個人過去十年 都在研究學生，我和他談過，

who's studied students for the last decade,

and he basically found that even when you choose to read something,

基本上，他發現，就算你 選擇要閱讀某篇文章，

even when you make the choice that this is important,

你選擇認定這篇文章是重要的，

you spend on average 26 seconds looking at it.

平均來說，你只會花 二十六秒鐘去閱讀它。

Review.org and others

Review.org

have looked at how many times do you look at your screen in a day.

及其他人都研究過 你每天會看螢幕幾次。

They found it's at least 250 times you're checking your phone.

他們發現，你一天至少 要查看手機兩百五十次。

And for those that don't think that's true,

如果你不相信，

想想看，從我開始喋喋不休之後，

think about how many times you've either checked it

你有多少次查看／ 想要查看你的手機。

or thought about checking it since I started babbling.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

Our data shows that more often than not,

資料顯示，大多數的時候，

if you share a story on social media, you never read it.

你都沒有讀過你在 社群媒體上分享的文章。

Think about that: like there’s something about a headline or a photo

想想看，

標題或照片有某種特性 讓你很亢奮地想要分享，

that got you so jacked up that you're going to share it

像旅鼠盲從。

like you're a little lemming.

我們都會這樣做，

And we all do it because our brains are being, like,

我們都會這樣做，因為我們的 大腦就像是被資訊淹沒。

flooded with information.

And what I thought when I did the discovery,

我發現這一點之後，我心想，當然，

I thought, for sure the brain must be getting rewired.

大腦連結一定被重建了。 你常聽到這個說法。

And you hear that often.

There's very little scientific proof that that's true.

幾乎沒有科學證據證明這是真的。

What happened and what we think is happening

實情是，我們認為的實情是，

is, as a species, we've always been prone to distraction.

人類本來就是很容易分心的物種。

We think we're good multitaskers. Almost nobody is.

我們自認擅長多功， 但幾乎沒有人真的擅長。

We're good at doing one thing if you're focused on it.

我們擅長專注做好一件事。

The University of California, Irvine, studied this.

加州大學爾灣分校 研究了我們的分心狀況，

They studied our distractibility

and found that if you get distracted on something,

發現如果某樣東西讓你分心， 你得花上二十分鐘，

it takes you 20 minutes to truly refocus.

才能真正重新專注。

Now think about your day.

想想你的日常，充斥著 讓你分心的事物，

It's just awash in distraction.

充斥著文字：

Awash in words: tweeted words, texted words, Slacked words, email words.

推特、簡訊、Slack、 電子郵件都滿是文字。

Words, words, words.

文字，文字，都是文字，接著 你打開電腦去看更多文字。

And then you peck at your little computer looking for more.

So no wonder nobody's paying attention to almost anything you're saying or doing.

也難怪沒有人能注意 你在說什麼或做什麼。

No wonder it's so hard to get people to pay attention to anything.

也難怪這麼難

讓大家去注意任何事物。

So at Axios, as we thought about this,

在 Axios，針對這一點， 我們說，聽著，

we said, listen, if the consumer’s saying they want more information quicker

如果消費者說他們想要 更快得到更多資訊，

and they're not going to spend that much time

他們不想花那麼多時間，

and you want to stay in journalism,

而你想繼續做新聞，

你會怎麼做？你會怎麼做？

what would you do? What would you do?

And our solution was what we call Smart Brevity,

我們的解決方案被我們 稱為「智慧簡潔」。

that people want smart content, essential content.

大家想要智慧內容，扼要的內容。

But they want it delivered efficiently, as fast as humanly possible.

但傳遞要很有效率，

在人類所能的範圍內盡快傳遞。

And we saw it in how people were getting our information,

我們看到大家如何取用我們的資訊，

how they were getting it elsewhere.

他們如何在其他地方取得資訊。

And so we built a whole company around it to teach journalists how to do it.

所以我們以此為核心建造了 整個公司，教導記者怎麼做。

And journalists kind of adapted right away.

而記者馬上就適應了。

And suddenly we had awesome readership almost overnight,

突然，幾乎一夕之間， 我們就有了很棒的關係，

people in the White House, CEOs, tech leaders.

和白宮的人、執行長、 科技領導人的關係。

And then two interesting things happened after that.

那之後，發生了兩件很有意思的事。

I started to get not ten or 20,

我開始收到不是數十則

literally hundreds of notes from readers saying,

而是數百則讀者留言，說：

"Thank you, you're trying to save me time. I can tell."

「謝謝你，我看得出來 你在嘗試幫我省時間。」

I never asked for a thank you, especially when you cover politics,

我從來不求感謝，報導政治的 記者不被丟鞋子就很幸運了，

you're lucky not to get hit by a shoe,

完全不期待會有人感謝。

much less actually have someone thank you for it.

But I was like, "Oh, that is interesting."

但，我說：「喔，那真有趣。」

And then about a year and a half in, we started to get calls from companies,

大約一年半之後我們開始 接到一些電話，來自企業、

from the NBA, from startups,

來自 NBA、來自新創公司，

and almost all were saying the same thing:

他們說的幾乎都一樣：

"Hey, our executives, our people, they're reading Smart Brevity,

「我們的主管、我們的人， 他們都在讀『智慧簡潔』，

but they won't read anything that we do internally.

但他們都不讀我們 內部所做的東西。」

This led me on another journey to figure out why people can't get people

這又讓我踏上另一段旅程， 想搞懂為何大家無法讓人去讀

to read about things that are happening at their company

自己公司內部、學校內部、 新創公司內部的相關資訊。

or happening at their school or happening at their startup.

And it turned out that basically

結果發現，

people were vomiting so many words in all these places

基本上，在這些地方， 大家都丟出大量的文字，

that nobody was paying attention to it.

結果根本沒有人會注意。

And that's where we thought,

此時我們心想，

oh, Smart Brevity could work in almost any setting.

喔，「智慧簡潔」幾乎 在任何情境中都行得通。

我們接到一通來自 CIA 首長的電話。

So we get a call from the CIA, the head of the CIA.

They call us, and they say,

他們打給我們，說： 「聽著，請你們過來

"Listen, can you guys come in and talk to our team

跟我們的團隊談談

about how spies can essentially give a much more crisper explanation

間諜要怎樣才能

更乾淨俐落地解釋 他們所看到的情報？

of what they're seeing on the ground?

Like, what are the threats?

如，威脅是什麼？

他們不擅溝通， 他們的訊息很迂迴。」

They're not great communicators. These messages are meandering."

So my partner goes in, talks to the CIA,

於是我的夥伴過去，

解釋了我等下會告訴 各位的密技和訣竅。

explains the tricks and tips I’m going to give you in a second.

And in the audience is a guy who writes the Presidential Daily Brief,

聽眾當中有一位負責 撰寫總統每日簡報的人，

and this was under Donald Trump,

那時的總統是川普，

他寫好之後，他們會 進去對川普做簡報。

and he would write it, go in, and they would brief him.

And he was so enamored with this idea of communicating more effectively

而他好喜歡這個更有效溝通的想法，

that he quit and now works for us,

喜歡到他辭職來為我們工作，

teaching other people how to communicate more effectively.

來教其他人如何有效溝通。（笑聲）

(Laughter)

我沒有怪川普，原因 是因為我們 Axios。

I'm not blaming Trump. It's because of us, because of Axios.

Around the same time, Jamie Dimon,

幾乎同時，傑米‧戴蒙，

one of the most famous CEOs of our generation,

我們這一代最有名的執行長之一，

he writes his annual letter.

他在撰寫他的年度信函，

It's 32,000 words long,

內容有三萬兩千個字，

about his observations on banking and on the world.

講的是他對銀行業及世界的觀察。

32,000 words is basically a book.

三萬兩千個字基本上就是一本書了。

So he's probably lucky if even his family members read it.

就連他的家人會去讀都算很幸運了。

So his staff calls us, and they say,

他的幕僚打給我們說，說：「嘿，

"Hey, listen. It seems like you guys are good

你們似乎很擅長讓大家去注意資訊。

at getting people to pay attention to information.

你們能不能幫這封信 做個『智慧簡潔』版？」

Could you do a Smart Brevity version of it?"

於是我們挑出他最重要的重點， 將三萬兩千字縮到幾百字，

So we took his most important points, turned 32,000 words into a couple hundred,

and voila, they got much more engagement,

接著，看哪，他們得到 更多投入和更多牽引力，

much more traction in people seeing what's important,

讓大家看到重點，

remembering what's important.

記住重點。

So what I want to leave you with are what are some of the basic tips.

所以，我要留給大家 一些基本的訣竅。

Because you probably know, you're frazzled, you're distracted,

因為你可能知道，你很疲憊， 你會分心，你都知道這些。

you can see it.

當你試圖傳遞訊息時，

When you're trying to send a message,

從今天開始，你能做什麼改變，

what are the things that you could do differently, starting today,

to become a vastly more effective communicator?

成為效率大增的溝通者？

Number one, stop being selfish.

第一，

別再自私了。

Stop being selfish.

別再自私了。

What do I mean by that?

這是什麼意思？

So much of writing is self-indulgent.

好多文章都是在自作多情。

We write about what we care about,

我們寫的是我們在乎什麼，

and we write at the length that we want to write about.

我們寫的長度是我們想要寫的長度。

We don't think about the whole purpose of it,

我們沒在想寫這些的目的，也就是

which is what is the person that I'm writing this for, or talking to,

我撰寫或談論的內容是要給誰的？

what do they actually need to know?

他們實際上需要知道什麼？

What do they actually care about?

他們真正在乎的是什麼？

Reverse the way you think about communicating.

用反向的方式來思考溝通。

At our company, the first two words of our manifesto are: "Audience first."

我們公司宣言的前四個字

就是「受眾第一」。

How do you serve the people that you're trying to reach?

你要如何提供服務給 你想要觸及的受眾？

The Holy Father himself has blessed this concept indirectly.

聖父本人就曾以不直接的 方式祝福了這個觀念。

So Pope Francis just gave a speech recently

教宗方濟各近期做了一場演說，

in Slovakia, where he was talking to priests

在斯洛伐克，

他和神父談到他們做的布道。

about the homilies that they're giving.

And he said, “You have to stop giving 30 and 40 minute homilies,

他說：

「別再做三、四十分鐘的布道了，

and they should be 10 minutes.

十分鐘就好。

Because no one’s listening to you.

因為沒人在聽你說。

你會失去他們，人沒辦法 保持專注那麼久。」

You’re losing them. People don’t pay attention that long.”

And he joked when he made the announcement

他開完笑說，

當他做出這項宣告之後， 修女掌聲最大聲，

that the loudest applause came from the nuns

because, in his words, they're the ones

因為，套用他的話， 你呶呶不休時最苦的是她們。

who have to suffer through your long-windedness.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

So point two is: grab me.

第二個訣竅：

抓住我的心。

Whenever you're communicating --

凡是要溝通的時候——

again, I don't care if it's in an email, if it's a tweet, if it's a note,

不論是用電子郵件、推特、

留言、寫給朋友的備忘，

if it's a memo to a friend, grab me.

抓住我的心。

What is the most important thing, the reason you're writing?

最重要的是什麼？ 你寫這些的理由是什麼？

如果你只有我剛才說的二十六秒鐘，

What is that one thing, if you only had that 26 seconds I mentioned,

what is the one thing you want me to remember about it?

你希望我記住的那一點是什麼？

Which is related to tip three, which is: just keep it simple.

這就和第三個訣竅有關，那就是：

保持簡單。

Keep it simple.

保持簡單。

Like think of that one sentence,

想出一個句子， 一個句子比兩個句子好。

one sentence is better than two sentences.

一段比兩段好。

One paragraph is better than two paragraphs.

Use simple, strong words.

用簡單、強而有力的字詞。

There's a reason you're taught a simple sentence structure

各位兒時要學習簡單的 句子結構是有原因的，

when you're a little kid.

It still works effectively today.

至今這類句子都仍然很有效力。

It still works effectively. Keep it simple.

仍然很有效力。保持簡單。

If you're going to write about a banana,

如果你要寫一條香蕉， 別稱它為細長的黃色水果，

you're not going to call it an elongated yellow piece of fruit.

You're going to call it a banana.

就稱它為香蕉。

If you're going to talk about someone lying,

如果你要談到某人說謊， 別說支吾搪塞，就說說謊。

you're not going to say prevaricate, you're going to say lie.

保持簡單。

Keep it simple.

Which relates as well to point four,

這也和第四個訣竅有關，

which is: be human.

那就是：好好當人類。 像人類那樣寫作。

Write like a human.

I see this in journalism all the time.

我在新聞圈一天到晚看到這個狀況。

I don't understand what happened to our species

我不懂我們這個物種是怎麼了，

that when you put a pen in our hand or a keyboard in front of us,

把一枝筆交到我們手上，

或把鍵盤擺到我們面前，

we suddenly stiffen up,

我們突然就嚴肅起來，

think we're a Harvard professor or we're Walt Whitman,

以為自己是哈佛教授或詩人惠特曼，

and we try to show off in our writing.

試圖在寫作當中炫耀。

Like, if I was talking to you in the bar,

如果我是在酒吧跟你說話，

I'm not going to use SAT words, I'm not going to talk in acronyms.

我不會用理工用語或縮寫簡稱來說，

I'm not going to use wordy clauses.

我不會用冗長的句子來說。

I'm going to talk like I'm talking to you now.

我會用現在我跟各位說話的 方式，人類的說話方式。

I'm going to talk like a human.

So stop, stop using those big terms.

所以，別再用那些偉大的用語了。

You think that people think you're smart when you use them? They don't.

你以為別人會覺得你用 那些詞表示你很聰明？不會。

他們只想朝你扔鞋子。

They just want to throw a shoe at you.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

這就要帶到第五個訣竅，

Which leads me to point five, which is just stop.

那就是，停下來就是了。

Just stop.

停下來就是了。

The greatest gift that you can give yourself and others

在這個凌亂吵雜的世界， 你能給你自己和他人

in this cluttered world

一個最棒的禮物：

is their time back and is your time back.

把時間還給他們，把時間還給你。

Use as few words, as few sentences as humanly possible

在人類所能的範圍內盡可能

用少一點字句，

so that that person gets the message you want

讓對方得到你想傳達的訊息，

and you both get the time back that you deserve.

你們雙方也都能把 你們應得的時間省下來。

And I can tell you this, I've seen it in my own life.

我可以告訴各位， 我在我的人生中親眼見過，

If you just start to think about the efficiency of communication,

如果你能開始思考溝通的效率，

if you put into practice a couple of the tips that I just talked about,

如果你能實際練習 我剛才說的幾項訣竅，

you will see in your own mind that you start to think more clearly,

你自己都會覺得 你的腦袋變得更清楚，

talk more clearly, write more clearly.

說話變得更清楚， 寫作變得更清楚。

And you'll see ultimately that it's selfishly good for you

最終，你會發現好處 還是回到你自己身上，

because you'll be heard again.

因為你會再次被聽見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）