Death of the Three Tip Business Blog

Evolving with Intention, In Writing and In Life

It’s taken me a little while to write this blog.  That’s not unusual for me; I often struggle with writer’s block and general angst about coming up with something that others might find interesting.  This time, my issue wasn’t with the content but rather the format of the blog itself.  The generally accepted format for business blogs is no longer working for me as a writer and I don’t believe my readers are getting much out of it either.  Change is needed.

Most people know that business blogs follow a basic template:

1. Tell the reader what the blog is about and what they can expect to get out of reading it
2. Share a story or example to illustrate your point and support your main message
3. Provide three tips for the reader to practice (or three things for them to think about) – because the brain likes things in threes
4. Finish by restating your main point and a call to action.

The generally accepted format for business blogs is no longer working

I’ve used this format for quite a while now – it’s straightforward and easy to follow, and allows me to get a blog out fairly quickly.  Here’s the problem, though: unless the blog is about something simple like how to clean cat puke out of your carpet (which is highly relevant to me since I have two pukey cats), I can’t remember any of the three tips or reflections I’ve read, as helpful as they may be.

With so much information coming at me at any given time and so much pressure to perform and produce, my brain is losing the capacity to process one good tip, let alone three – and I know I’m not alone.  Just as we need to adapt to a world that is changing faster and faster, so does my writing in service of adaptive readers.

my brain is losing the capacity to process one good tip, let alone three – and I know I’m not alone.

By adaptive, I mean evolving with intention.  We’re always evolving anyway but the speed of change in the world these days means that we need to be more conscious of what is changing and how we can best adapt in response – otherwise, we may end up developing some bad habits that work against us, like compulsively checking our phones throughout the day and setting ourselves up to be in a constant state of distraction.

So how do we evolve with intention?  Uh-oh, I feel three tips coming on… let me back up for a moment as this is not meant to be a how-to blog.  The more pertinent question to me is: what does it mean to evolve my blog writing with intention, in adaptive response to the information overload that most of us are experiencing today?  Or, what do I need to share now, in a way that is more accessible to busy minds?

I think it’s just what I’ve shared so far: recognizing that the world is changing, the old modes of doing things are no longer serving us and that we need to begin considering new options.  This applies to blog writing of course, but also to other aspects of our work and lives.  I’m trying a new format with this blog – shorter paragraphs, simpler language, no tips or structured reflections, and what I hope is a sense of respect for other people’s time and attention.

the old modes of doing things are no longer serving us and we need to begin considering new options

So in the spirit of evolving with intention: What is changing in your world right now, and what can you try differently today?