"Writing skills" that every office worker should possess

⛳️ This article was originally published on the “UDN Naruto Hall” website

I want to talk to you - in modern society, what abilities should office workers possess in order to develop smoothly in the highly competitive workplace?

For the office workers, don’t think that you can say “Bye Bye” to writing after leaving campus! Take civil servants as an example. From the first day they enter the public service system, civil servants will inevitably have to face various official documents for undertaking business, and they need to use official documents to handle complex tasks assigned by their superiors. Therefore, we can say that official document writing is an essential communication skill and tool for public servants. If you want to be a civil servant, it is not enough to pass the college entrance examination or the general examination. You must have the ability to handle official documents!

Even if we are not civil servants, we still need to use writing communication skills on many occasions. For example, supervisors often ask their subordinates to write a plan, think of a product development project, or draw up an event plan, all of which must involve writing.

Various forms of communication, interaction, persuasion and even negotiation are always indispensable in the workplace, and these links are inseparable from writing. Writing is a communication skill that is widely used by people. Maybe you and I don’t need to pile up a lot of gorgeous words to attract the favor of the reviewers like those essay competitions we participated in when we were students, but we do need to be able to share information and convey opinions in a detailed manner within limited time and space.

For office workers, you don’t have to deliberately express your thoughts like a writer, or write a project that is as twists and turns and exciting as a novel. But at the very least, you need to be able to convey your thoughts and ideas smoothly through words so that your supervisors, colleagues or partners can understand your thoughts. This is naturally a very important thing.

There is a familiar advertising line that says, “Imagination is your superpower.” In fact, if we can improve our writing and communication skills, then writing ability can also be a superpower that helps you and me navigate the workplace.

How to improve writing skills

So, how to improve your writing skills? Of course, we don’t need to spend money to go to cram schools to cram essays, but we can usually start by reading more books and newspapers. In the past, I would always read the editorials of the United Daily News to train my sensitivity to current affairs, and also to read the opinions of the newspaper’s editors on major social issues.

Reading more can expand your horizons and enhance your absorption of knowledge. For office workers, you can choose a book you like and put it in your briefcase. You can take it out and read it when you take the MRT to and from work or when you have free time during your lunch break. Even if you only read a few pages at a time, the cumulative progress over time is amazing.

In addition, we can also learn from the author’s narrative techniques, observe how others arrange plots, or what ingenuity there is in the beginning, transition, and transition? You know, reading a lot can also improve your ability to identify and appreciate articles. Observation is also a good way to learn.

Of course, the most direct way to improve your writing skills is to write more. I used to give myself a topic every week, and then write down my opinions on the manuscript paper. Some young friends once told me that they knew very few idioms and vocabulary and didn’t know how to write.

In fact, you don’t need to worry about being embarrassed, and you don’t need to use too many beautiful words. Just practice how to express your thoughts and opinions fluently at the beginning. Just like there are many skills for speaking appropriately, don’t think that writing is just “I write with my hand and I speak with my mouth”. Only through the practice of both reading and writing can you improve your writing skills!

Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

I often help some friends revise their articles, and I find that the writing bottleneck most people encounter is that they cannot truthfully convey their opinions. Although they have many ideas in their hearts, they feel as heavy as a thousand pounds when they write! Otherwise, sometimes the writing is too trivial, or we stick to certain details but forget to take care of the overall situation.

In fact, writing is not a big deal, just like talking or eating, it does not need to be taken particularly seriously.

Let me share a little tip with you friends. If you are worried that the article you write is not fluent enough and the point of view is not clear enough, it is recommended that you read the entire article yourself first, or even recite it once. In this way, in addition to finding typos, you can also know where the text is not smooth enough, or the words do not convey the meaning!

When you have free time, practice writing more. Or you can also try writing a blog, whether it is recording food notes about dining with friends (https://www.content.tw/writing/dining-brief) or commenting on current social issues, this is also a good practice.

Once you are able to express your opinions through writing fluently, then practice how to use idioms or beautiful words to add the finishing touch to your article, and even learn different writing rules. For example, the “[Inverted Pyramid Structure]” (https://www.contenthacker.today/search?q=%E5%80%92%E9%87%91%E5%AD%97 %E5%A1%94%E7%B5%90%E6%A7%8B)” is often widely used in the writing of some more formal publications. It is also the most common and refined narrative structure for news writing. You can also learn it if you have the opportunity.

As the saying goes “Rome was not built in a day”, if you want to improve your writing skills, you will naturally need a lot of practice. Canadian writer Malcolm. is famous for his best-selling books such as “The Detonation Trend” and “Two Seconds to Decide”. Malcolm Gladwell believes that good ideas must take a lot of time to cultivate and practice. In the book, he repeatedly emphasized the so-called “10,000 hours” rule, which means that various successful ideas or skills often require long periods of practice and deliberation. And the same goes for writing.

Writing is indeed an ability that office workers should possess. Now, let’s practice together! If you still have any questions about writing, please feel free to contact me!

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