To improve your writing, surrender the results

The note would move her to tears. I was sure of it.

I was proud of what I wrote. The note talked about our past and where our future was going. It was romantic, nostalgic, and optimistic.

As she read it, I watched her expression.

No tears. No sniffles. Not even a nose twitch, really.

The appreciation was there, but not the impact I expected.

That wasn’t the script created in my head. I did what I thought was my best writing, then time-travelled to the future, scripting the result I expected and wanted.

As always, the universe had other ideas. The universe couldn’t care less about my expected result, and it gave me something different.

It happens all the time, in writing and in any action we take. The result of the action is always different than we expect.

Sometimes we judge the difference from our expectations to be better. Sometimes worse.

• A carefully crafted email to a client intended to smooth over a situation instead upsets her further, like a strong wind that comes up and fuels a brushfire. A forest fire erupts.
• A small press release gets unexpected traction.
• A lightly-read blog post impacts someone long after it is written, igniting a new opportunity.

How many times do I have to learn this lesson? Hundreds, apparently.

Write to the best of your ability. Understand the audience and the intended result as best you can, and then let go.

Detach from the result. Watch it. Learn from it. But don’t draw emotion from it, positive or negative.

For business writers — and we are all business writers — it is even more important to release the results.

Release the results? It sounds like new-age BS.

It isn’t, though. It works.

Release the result — emotionally. Because you can’t learn from the result, you can’t grow from it, when you’re emotionally invested in the result.

When you’re emotionally involved in the result, your ego gets involved. Your ego wants to either take victory laps or assign blame. When business writing falls flat, you can’t learn, can’t refine, and can’t improve when your ego is defending the work:

• The audience wasn’t sophisticated enough.
• The email campaign was sent at the wrong time.
• It was raining. And on and on.

Be satisfied you did the best work you could at the time. Approach the results like a detective: interested, observational, but not invested in the findings.

Instead, attach your emotions to the process. To the grind of first drafts, editing, and rewrites. Pour emotion into getting everything as perfect as you think you can. Revel in the creation and in finishing.

And then release it. Observe.

Detach so can you learn and improve the next time, and 25 written pieces later. Detaching from results makes make you a better writer in service of your employer, your clients, and most importantly, your audience.