7 Good Minutes: Extra - Separate the Words They Sent From the Meaning You Added

Clyde Lee Dennis here with today's episode of 7 Good Minutes. Extra. Today's idea in one line. Writing can carry tone, but a short reply rarely carries enough of it to be sure. So when one lands badly, a fair part of what you're reacting to is something you added yourself. Here's the practice. Two lines. Paper or the notes app on your phone. A minute at most.

Do it the moment you catch yourself reading a message a third time. Line 1 is exactly what they wrote. Word for word, punctuation and all. Not the gist, the actual characters. Line 2 is what you've decided it means. Write that out in full too. He's still annoyed about last week. She thinks I let her down. Then just look at the two lines sitting next to each other. Most of the time, line 2 is 4 or 5 times longer than line 1. That difference is yours. Nobody sent it to you. You wrote it.