One phrase guides my writing and editing, and I repeat it to my students: Say it crisply.

My graduate supervisor once gave me this advice, and it lodged itself in my brain. I used it to tame my academic work, and it since dominates my prose style. In writing, we often use more words than necessary to express our ideas - this is natural, as we are forming them. I’ve recently taken to having my students engage in rewriting their own points and reflections, with the target of concision. This process of refinement - self-editing - is one of the most valuable any writer can undertake.

In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown provides the example of Dieter Rams, German industrial designer and career academic, whose design principle was encapsulated in just three words: Weniger, aber besser - ‘Less, but better’.

My own mantra is rather pleasingly similar in shape.

My own mantra is pleasingly similar in shape.

My own mantra is similar in shape.

My own mantra is similar.

My mantra is similar.

Mine is similar.