The Weight of Words

The Content Inflation Problem

We are drowning in words. The average person encounters 100,000 words a day. Emails, articles, social posts, notifications, newsletters, podcasts transcribed into blog posts transcribed into tweet threads.

More has been written in the last decade than in all of prior human history. Most of it will never be read.

And yet — despite all this content — people feel less informed, less connected, and less trusting than ever. Why?

Because volume isn’t value. Frequency isn’t faithfulness. And publishing isn’t the same as saying something.

The Trust Recession

Every industry is experiencing a trust recession. People trust brands less, institutions less, and content less. And the cause is painfully simple: most content exists to extract attention, not to give value.

Your reader can feel the difference. They know when something was written for them versus at them. They know when you’re trying to help versus trying to convert.

" The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. "

Here’s the marketing secret no one talks about: sincerity is a strategy. Not because it’s clever — because it’s rare. In a world of manufactured authenticity, actually meaning what you say is a competitive advantage.

Writing That Earns Trust

So how do you write things people actually trust?

1. Say less.

The instinct is to publish more. More blog posts. More emails. More threads. But trust doesn’t scale with volume. It scales with signal.

One email a week that your reader looks forward to is worth more than daily noise they delete.

The blank space around your words matters as much as the words themselves.

2. Be specific.

Vague language is the language of people who don’t want to be held accountable. “We help businesses grow” means nothing. “We helped a plumber in Ohio add $4,000/month by fixing his Google Business Profile” means everything.

Specificity builds trust because it can be verified.

3. Admit what you don’t know.

Nothing destroys credibility faster than pretending to have answers you don’t have. The reader doesn’t need you to be omniscient. They need you to be honest.

“I don’t know” is one of the most powerful things a leader can say.

4. Write like you talk.

Not like you present. Not like you pitch. Like you talk to a friend over coffee. The written word should carry the warmth of a conversation, not the distance of a press release.

The One-Draft Newsletter Framework

Overthinking kills newsletters. Here’s a framework for writing one in under an hour that sounds like you, not like a content team.

The Structure:

THE ONE-DRAFT FRAMEWORK
========================

1. THE HOOK (2-3 sentences)
   → Start with something true that happened this week.
   → Not a stat. Not a quote. A moment.

2. THE THREAD (3-4 paragraphs)
   → Pull the thread from that moment into a bigger idea.
   → One idea. Not three. One.

3. THE TURN (1-2 paragraphs)
   → What does this mean for the reader?
   → Make it practical or make it personal.

4. THE CLOSE (1-2 sentences)
   → End with a question, a challenge, or a benediction.
   → Don't summarize. Land.

The Rules:

1. Write it in one sitting. Don’t come back tomorrow. The energy of the first draft is the energy of the piece.
2. No bullet points longer than one line. If you need more, write a paragraph.
3. One image, max. Let the words do the work.
4. Read it once out loud before sending. Cut anything you stumble over.

The best writing sounds effortless. It becomes effortless through practice, not perfection.

In the Beginning Was the Word

Of all the ways God could have described the act of creation, He chose language.

Words are not decoration. They are not content. They are the medium through which God chose to create the universe.

That should change how we think about what we write.

The Sacred Weight of Speech

In Hebrew, the word dabar means both “word” and “thing.” To speak was to create. Language and reality were inseparable.

Words were never meant to be disposable. They were meant to build.

We’ve cheapened words by mass-producing them. We’ve turned language into a commodity — something to be optimized, A/B tested, and growth-hacked.

But words still carry weight. A word of encouragement at the right moment can change a life. A word of truth in a room full of lies can shift the atmosphere. A word of prayer can move the hand of God.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

— Proverbs 18:21

Writing as Worship

What if we treated every word we published as an offering? Not every word needs to be about God. But every word can be for God — honest, careful, and given with intention.

The question isn’t “will this perform?” The question is “is this true?”

Resources for Meaningful Communication

Further Reading

• Politics and the English Language by George Orwell → — Why clear writing is an act of resistance
• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield → — The title is the lesson
• Draft No. 4 by John McPhee → — Masterful essays on the craft of structure in nonfiction