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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I-Hart Radio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is that you shouldn't make people guess what a meeting, call, document, or email is about.

Let them know in as straightforward a way as you can.

In other words, go ahead and spoil the surprise. Today's tip comes from Gretchen Rubin,

author of The Happiness Project and most recently, Life in Five Senses. When Gretchen was a guest

on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds, she talked about how she

chose the title for her new book. She explained that for a nonfiction book, you don't want

a title that makes the reader guess what the book is about. It is much better to spell it out clearly. That is broadly applicable

advice. In many contexts, it pays to be clear about your topic and your purpose. Don't make people

guess. In general, people don't like guessing. When people know what is happening,

they can be better prepared, which will make everything more productive. I am sure you have seen

the opposite happen plenty of times. Someone calls an important meeting, but isn't really clear about what

needs to be discussed or decided. The meeting is given some nebulous title like updates or

summer season. People show up at the appointed time, but they don't know what they're talking about

or what they're aiming to accomplish. And because of that, they probably haven't done any research

or thinking to prepare. The odds of that being a productive meeting are low. Email subject lines are sometimes similarly vague.

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