Stop Rambling: The Complete Guide to Clear & Concise Communication
Two simple exercises that will transform how you communicate in meetings, presentations, and everyday conversations
👋 Hi, it's Rinaldo. Every week or two, I share actionable storytelling strategies to help you clarify your message, drive decisions, and grow your influence at work regardless of your role or title.
"Sorry, I'm rambling."
Sound familiar? It's the universal complaint of managers, team leaders, and professionals everywhere. We sit through meetings knowing we've lost our audience somewhere between point three and point seven.
"I need to be more concise."
Seems straightforward enough. Just say less, write shorter. Simple, right? But here's what puzzles me: if brevity is truly that basic, why isn't everyone already a master of it?
There's a legendary tale about Ernest Hemingway winning a bet regarding who could write the best short story. His buddy wrote a paragraph, Hemingway wrote six words.
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
True conciseness means capturing the heart of your message. We're swimming in an ocean of distractions these days. When someone gives you two minutes of their attention, you'd better deliver something worth their time.
Here's my confession: brevity has never come naturally to me.
It's something I actively work on, testing new methods and refining my approach constantly. I wouldn't claim to be an expert yet, but I've made significant progress and experienced real improvements in my professional interactions.
Efficiency Over Speed
First, we need to know what not to do.
Usually, people struggling with conciseness get some version of the same unhelpful advice about thought suppression ("don't ramble"), followed by vague guidance ("just boil it down"), and mental instructions ("be concise").
Maybe they're told to "just give the high-level overview," "keep it brief," or "we only need the bird's-eye view." What this typically translates to in the speaker's mind: talk faster.
Their logical solution becomes trying to speak for less time. "If I only speak for two minutes instead of three, that must mean I was more concise, right?"
So their focus shifts to speed instead of efficiency, and they start talking faster.
Anyone who's experienced this knows what happens next: they actually speak longer and become less concise because when you speak faster, you're stealing from your brain the one thing it needs to be a better editor of your words: time!
You quickly end up down irrelevant rabbit holes and then add tangents and course corrections just to get back to your main point. Their goal was fewer words, but all they achieved were faster ones.
The Real Problem
If everyone understands how crucial conciseness is, why do we keep going in circles?
In just a moment, I want you to spend roughly two minutes discussing a work-related topic out loud. You can pick from the suggestions below, or choose something more relevant to your situation. If you're somewhere private, just speak normally. If you're in public, grab your phone and act like you're on a call.
As a reminder from the previous post, here are a few examples of what you could use for content:
A professional success
A progress report on a complex project
A personal or organizational elevator pitch
A summary of a significant initiative
A description of a mission statement, campaign, or procedure
A quarterly review
An excerpt of a presentation
A short piece of industry insight
In a moment, I want you to simply talk about one of these topics for a couple minutes. No other instructions.
If you're considering skipping this part and just continuing to read... please don't. You'll gain so much more by actually doing the exercise. I promise I'm not wasting your time with meaningless activities.
The reason these exercises matter is simple: if you accept that speaking is fundamentally a physical skill, then skipping the practice is like hiring a tennis coach and only listening to their advice without ever picking up a racket.
Ready? Go ahead: speak out loud about one of those topics for two minutes.
(...)
Excellent work! Now, how could you improve what you just shared?
The Building Block Exercise
I want you to cover that same content again, but this time focus on just one idea at a time. To help with this, I'm going to give you specific instructions that I encourage you to follow precisely.
Grab six LEGO blocks. If you don't have any handy, sticky notes work too.
Read through these directions first, then try the exercise:
Pick up one LEGO piece or sticky note, and while you're holding it up, share the first idea from your content. Once you've finished that complete thought (where you'd naturally place a period if writing it down), put the piece down on your desk in silence.
Quietly pick up the next piece. Once it's in your hand, you can speak your second idea, but as soon as you complete that thought (again, where a period would go), place that second piece down silently. Quietly grab the third piece and share your third idea. Complete the thought, then silently place it down. Pick up the fourth piece and continue this pattern until you've used all six pieces.
You might not get through all your content, and that's perfectly fine! Just cycle through the six pieces again. Or you might only need four or five thoughts to cover everything, which is also great.
The exercise only works if you maintain strict discipline, placing each LEGO or sticky note down in complete silence at the end of every single thought. What I'm calling a "thought" could also be considered a sentence, but we think in complete ideas, not grammatical structures.
Stay disciplined: don't place pieces down in the middle of thoughts or at random times. LEGO blocks work better than sticky notes here because they're harder to cheat with since they don't require careful placement. If you use sticky notes, take time to smooth each one down completely so it adheres properly.
Also, if you find yourself using just one piece while saying something like "Our project had three phases, we used both team collaboration and individual work people could choose some tasks while others were assigned, everything ran smoothly except for some unexpected client feedback," you're cramming too many thoughts into one piece.
I don't care which materials you use, just do the exercise! Get creative with whatever you have: coins, cards, pens, anything works. The important thing isn't your tools but staying disciplined and precise so you actually benefit from the intervention.
One piece equals one thought. Ready? Give it a try.
(...)
Well done! What changes did you notice? Did you:
Speak for less time overall?
Use fewer filler words?
Pause more naturally?
Surprisingly, still cover most of what needed to be said?
End sentences with more finality instead of trailing off or adding endless side notes?
Looking at that list, you might agree most of those changes are pretty positive.
Instead of just opening your mouth and "starting to talk," the exercise forced you to consider your first point. Without even realizing it, that probably set you up for success. Because you had a clearer opening idea, you were less likely to use filler words. Because you didn't waste breath on filler, your first words benefited from better breath support, giving you more vocal variety.
Because you focused on one idea instead of juggling nine, you likely worked through your first point more slowly and deliberately. It probably had less filler language and was therefore more accurate and completed in fewer words than your initial attempt. When you had to place the piece down at the end of that thought, you probably concluded with more finality, avoiding upward inflection, vocal fry, or unnecessary tangents.
The act of picking up the next piece before sharing your next thought gave you the most valuable resource: time. This let you consider not just what you should say, but what you didn't need to say (and could therefore eliminate).
But there may have been some downsides too. Maybe you lost personality, or your voice became more monotone.
First, resist the urge to label your communication as simply "good" or "bad." Notice the nuances. Perhaps your structure improved, pausing got better, brevity increased, but vocal variety decreased. Your challenge next time is to keep the improvements while adding back greater vocal variety.
The exercise we just covered can be used privately or in low-stakes situations first. Then transition to less obvious applications. Obviously, stacking LEGO blocks in meetings isn't practical, so instead of stacking blocks, you can, for instance, press your left big toe firmly down in your shoe. Or as I do it, flip an object on your desk when you're in virtual meetings where this happens out of sight for the other participants. You can do many things imperceptibly and still get the benefit of the exercise.
Now, for the reasons I outlined above, especially efficiency over speed, this is why I started with the previous exercise before moving to the next one. I don't recommend taking this next step unless you've mastered the focus of being deliberate about the thoughts you choose and understanding that efficiency is indeed more important than speed, precisely because the next exercise is time-bound.
The Compression Method
When people have trouble being concise, the issue usually isn't the delivery. The problem is you don't actually know your idea as well as you think you do. Words are the final expression and how you communicate with others, but the problem isn't the words. The problem is that words represent ideas, arguments, decisions, and thinking. If you aren't sure what you think, it's hard to describe it clearly to someone else.
Therefore, the solution isn't surface-level word tweaking. The solution is getting clear on your main point. When you are clear on your main point, expressing it concisely becomes much easier.
This is why we'll do this next exercise.
The Compression Method is a dynamic way to prepare. You stretch and compress your talking points by practicing at different time lengths, from 3 minutes down to 30 seconds, then back up again. The result? A talk that is not only concise but fully internalized.
Again, this is a time-bound exercise, but you can and should combine it with putting down the stickies or LEGO blocks no matter what the time constraint is. We are time-bound here, but remember we are focused on being concise, not just being faster. If you notice you are speaking faster than before during this exercise, you are doing it wrong.
Set a timer for 3 minutes. Speak about your topic. Deliberately put objects down as you finish each thought.
(...)
Do it again, now use 2 minutes.
(...)
Great!
Now give yourself 1 minute.
(...)
And finally, do it now for 30 seconds.
(...)
Excellent! This exercise will help you trim any unnecessary content and sharpen your focus. So if you're ever in a high-stakes situation working with limited time, you can deliver only the essential message.
But we're not done!
If you want to practice internalizing an important message or pitch, go up the compression scale now.
Do 30 seconds again.
(...)
1 minute: Now it feels spacious. Rebuild with clarity.
(...)
2 minutes: Bring back structure and flow.
(...)
3 minutes: Final version, clear, intentional, internalized.
(...)
At each level, notice what changes. Are you clearer? More confident? Have your ideas evolved? Feel free to repeat this cycle as many times as you want.
Your thoughts can feel scattered when you're still figuring out your own perspective.
By the end of this method, your talk won't be something you're trying to remember. It'll be something you know. Whether you're pitching an idea, speaking on a panel, or stepping onto a TED-style stage, the Compression Method gets you there faster and more confidently.
By speaking it repeatedly with time constraints, your content becomes natural, so you're not just articulate, you're present and adaptable. You are not speeding up, you are just fluent in what you want to communicate.
The next time you catch yourself saying "I ramble too much," remember that the fix isn't talking faster or cutting corners. It's about getting crystal clear on what you actually want to say. These exercises aren't just drills, they're your training ground for the moments that matter. Whether you're pitching to investors, presenting to your team, or explaining a complex idea to your boss, you'll have the confidence that comes from truly knowing your message inside and out. Start with these in private, then take it into your real conversations. Your audience's attention is precious, and now you have the tools to make every word count.
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Good luck and be patient with yourself.
-Rinaldo
This is a really helpful, practical piece for something I’ve felt often. Saving it to come back to. Thank you for this!