Lean into your writing

My talent is writing. 

What a way to start an article. Many of you are reading this because your talent is also writing. The difference between a published author and those who talk about it is simply the ability to get ideas on paper. Many of you do not have this struggle, but you also may not realize the tremendous value of your gift. 

I was the same way until I came up with this revelation. Writing was my back up plan to my inability to speak. I had it wrong; I should have been relying on my ability to communicate in the written word and in exquisite detail.

I'm a terrible speaker.

OK, that's a rare confession but it's true in the general conversation and the meeting sense of speaking. Unless I script my presentations or speeches and exhaustively rehearse my verbal message, I am pretty much a mess with oral communication. The written word is my number one choice of communication as I have to time to strategically formulate my message, put it on paper, rearrange the content, and produce something many times more engaging and sensible than the confusion I might utter in a meeting. 

I used to take for granted the ability that God gave me to write. In my day job I often struggled with getting my point across in meetings. The words were in my brain, but would not come out logically without lots of stuttering, verbal weaving, reexplaining and retracting. It's a nightmare. I also realize that some people who speak well are not able to get words from their brains to paper. God made us all different, but equal. So, let's proceed by valuing speaking and writing equally.

My fix to my oral speaking dilemma was to prepare notes in advance, rehearse and then try to be helpful in meetings. However, I downplayed my ability to write and used it as a back up plan and not of much value. The result was being undervalued until a report was required. While my writing was valued while a deliverable, I discounted the day to day value until I noticed something interesting. 

The change

Often the boss would ask our group to put something together for a proposal, plan, or process. These opportunities would excite me as they would come easy to me. I soon realized while others had the gift of speaking, they had a very hard time writing their ideas down. It wasn't long before I realized that written communication is a rare gift, highly valued and I could use it as a strength and not a back up plan. 

Soon I was extremely valuable with writing proposals, developing processes, defining goals, milestones, and schedules and putting them down on paper. While others spoke well in meetings, I shined through doing something that most of our team could not accomplish. It came naturally to me, but the difference is, I became vocal about my ability and used it to advance in my career. No longer was my writing valued as a back up plan, but it led to many business opportunities. I've already written about a promotion I received because the books I had written set me above the other equally qualified candidate.

You no doubt also have this ability; that's why you write. Just ensure that everyone recognizes your ability and don't get lost in the noise of other people's speaking. Use writing as your strength and lead with that talent to make your employer or business more successful. Don't let anyone underestimate that value as less than a talent worth leaning into. 



Jeffrey W. Bennett, is an author and the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals.  Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook".