A complete, formal, fleshed-out communication strategy saves so much time and mental energy—plus you’ll be able to create content faster and make better business decisions. Goals, measurement, messaging, oh my! Hiring someone to build your strategy is about putting a value on your time and energy. You get to a finished product faster, and can avoid some stumbling blocks.

You can agree with the idea that you need to know your goal and still be bad at figuring out what the goal is for any given piece of communication. I'm sure of this because I see people communicate with each other in absence of a clear goal all the time, in business and in life.

Every time you communicate—big multimedia campaigns to short text messages—you have a goal and the clearer you are about the goal, the easier it becomes to hit the mark. We need to understand why we are communicating and what we are trying to achieve before we decide anything else.

The best work of my career has often involved a whole network of people working together to make things happen.  It's also taught me that all aspects of our life include relationships with other people. When we shift our perspective to one focused on relationship, it shifts the way we communicate and interact with people.

Do think of plans and structures as leashes or straight jackets: something that keeps you confined? I used to, too. See how they can actually create the freedom to be creative and have fun, with the brilliant side effect of doing better work.

Words have power, and we have a responsibility to wield them carefully. It's been nearly 200 years since Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword," but it remains painfully true. From our most intimate relationships to international diplomacy, our word choices can be the difference between peace and war.

No matter who you are or what you do, good communication will make your life run more smoothly. We can all be better communicators if we put in the time and effort, and especially if we learn from the right teachers.

I am obsessed with words, but I also know communication is so much more than that. There are countless elements that tell your audience something about you, your business, your choices.