Plan for the end. Take a moment to read Seth Godin for today, then I have a quick story about how I first learned this lesson the hard way.
I was a Junior in High School, taking a class from my favorite teacher, Mr. Brown. It was speech class and the assignment was to give a 4 minute extemporaneous speech on a topic that he pulled from a fishbowl. We were given 30 seconds to prepare after the topic was read to us from his place at the back of the room. i lucked out because my topic had to do with flying, something about which I was quite passionate in those days. In my 30 seconds of prep time I thought of a great line to start and knew I’d be fine once I had that in place.
The specifics of my little speech no longer stick in my brain, but 2 things do.
First, that I had a great feeling of euphoria when I finished because I knew I’d spoken fluidly and clearly and passionately. That’s not just my opinion, every in the class agreed. Even Mr. Brown.
Second, that I got a D. Why? Because even though I’d given a terrific speech, I went 8 minutes instead of the required 4. The missing ingredient was that while I’d thought of a terrific way to start in my 30 seconds of preparation, I gave no thought to how I was going to end. So I keep going and going and going until a way to wrap things up popped into my head. Way too late.
Mr. Brown explained to us at the end of class that day that it’s much more difficult to speak briefly than it is to go on and length.
Words to live by: Plan for the end.