Here are ten ideas that will help you become a better business writer. These are some of the things I find myself saying over and over in my courses. They’re not in any special order.

1. Send sensitive emails to yourself first. If it matters to your career, your relationships or your reputation, send it to yourself first. Open it and read it—you’ll be surprised how much different it looks when you put yourself in the place of the intended reader.

2.  Respect the process. Much as you’d like to get that report off your to-do list, you need to take the time to think it through. That means planning, reviewing the data, analyzing it, checking your purpose, thinking, rethinking and revising your drafts until you get it right. Don’t have the time? Start earlier, remembering that much of writing happens in your subconscious.

3. Complete the To field last. Even though email readers prompt you to complete the To field first, resist. You’ll agree with the wisdom of this if you’ve ever sent an important email before it was completed.Next you’ll be tempted to complete the subject line. Again, resist doing this. You won’t be able to write a really good, informative subject line until you’ve had a chance to polish the body text. Instead, start by drafting the body text of your message. Revise it by putting the bottom line first, remembering that readers need to know the main point first. Once you’ve clarified your point, write your subject line. And then you’re ready to complete the To field.

4. Check your ego. Remember you will impress more readers if you put their needs before your own. Avoid writing to impress or intimidate. Instead, write to communicate and make it easy for your reader.

5. Learn how to use MS Word, or whichever word processor you use. For that matter, learn how to use Outlook or Excel, or whichever software you use. Take a course. Above all, learn about the things your software can do for you. Once you know what it can do, the doing itself is easy. Your computer is more than a typewriter—use it to improve your productivity and effectiveness.

6. Learn one grammar rule a month. It’s important to know the rules of grammar, punctuation and usage. But don’t try to learn it all in one gulp. Take on one rule a month. It’s not too much and you’ll find it more interesting than you expected.

7. Read as much as possible. Reading more is a surefire way to writing better. Most importantly, read critically. Ask yourself why you like—or dislike—what you read. Read any good books lately? I’m looking for suggestions.

8. Give thoughtful feedback whenever you can. One of the best ways to become a better writer is to give feedback to others. It’s easy to see mistakes in someone else’s work because you have objectivity. Give them three kinds of feedback—first tell them what you like about their writing. Then give them global comments to do with strategy and structure, and finally give them local level comments to do with style and technicalities such as grammar and punctuation. That means you’ll have to read their document twice, because the first things you’ll notice are local the last things are global.

9. Give yourself permission to write a terrible first draft. Remember you don’t ever have to show it to anyone. The best first drafts are a dump of what’s in your head. You’ll feel less pressure if you know your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect and you’ll have something to edit.

10. Imagine an ideal reader. This is especially helpful when you don’t know your reader personally OR if you are writing to a large number of readers. If you can imagine one person and “talk” directly to that person, your draft will flow better and the end product will be more clear, conversational and personal. You’ll connect with all your readers on a personal level.

What are some of your best writing tips?

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