Your body of knowledge is a rich tapestry of complex, interconnected ideas. Each of these ideas impacts and is impacted by every other idea in the tapestry. How then do you extract a single thread without unraveling the entire fabric?

If you’ve ever asked that question, you aren’t alone. In fact, asking that question is a clear indication that you’re wrestling with the curse of knowledge.

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes you to forget what it was like not to know what you know. As a result, you may assume others share your knowledge, and so you fail to provide the necessary context when you present your ideas. Or, you may assume others have none of your knowledge, and so you provide so much context that a simple idea becomes a dissertation-length manuscript.

The Big Bang Theory, a popular sitcom that concluded its 12-season run in 2019, perfectly illustrates this concept. In one episode, Penny wants to understand physics well enough so she can enjoy conversations with her boyfriend, Leonard, about his work with subatomic particles. She asks Sheldon for help, and he begins his explanation in Ancient Greece, intending to cover 2,600 years of physics history. That is way too much context, and it overwhelms Penny instead of helping her.

That may be an extreme example, but it’s often difficult to determine how much context is enough. But it is essential if we want to serve our readers without overwhelming them.

The good news is that finding the right balance is easier than you might think.

Go narrow and deep.

Your readers are trying to make progress towards a goal. They don’t need to know everything you know to take a small step forward. They just need to know what to do next and why.

The average article is between 750 and 1,250 words, so you only have a couple of pages to give your readers the tools they need to change their thinking, mindset, or behavior. If you can help your readers take that next step forward, you will have done your job.

The key to writing a compelling and useful article is to be clear about its point.

When I work with my clients, I encourage them to conduct a SOAR analysis before they start writing an article. The SOAR asks four questions:

1. Who does this article serve? In other words, who is your audience for this article?
2. What is the objective of this article? Why will the audience you identified above feel compelled to read it?
3. What action will the audience be able to take after reading your article? In other words, how will their thinking, mindset, or behavior change?
4. Will this article enhance or diminish your reputation?

Once you know your audience, the objective, and the action you want your readers to be able to take after reading your article, work backwards. What information do they absolutely need to take that action? For each point you include, ask yourself how it helps your reader. Is this something that is nice for them to know? Or is it something they need to know? If the point you are making isn’t strictly necessary, consider deleting it.

Raman Shah, a data scientist who consults with local governments and social enterprises on performance measurement and operational improvement, is a graduate of Pathway to Publication. When he wrote “Starting Simple in Performance Measurement” for the International City/County Management Association, he was responding to an oft-repeated rebuttal to his recommendation that a prospective client implement operation reporting as a management tool. It is a compelling piece that makes the case for measuring output, not just impact.

By going narrow and deep on one of the challenges facing how local governments measure progress, Raman made a complex idea understandable and helped his readers take one step toward changing their thinking, mindset, and behavior.

The same principle applies to your articles. Rather than trying to share your entire body of knowledge in one article, focus on answering one specific question.

Find the right question.

Not every question serves as a good foundation for an article. Some are much too broad and would require you to write a book to answer in any meaningful way. Others are questions you can answer, but they may not be directly related to the work for which you most want to be known.

You have to actively look for the right question.

What did you struggle with early in your career? What obstacles did you face? How did you navigate those challenges? What do you know now that you wish you knew ten years ago? Looking back at your own experiences can often unearth a number of questions that can serve as a foundation for an article.

But don’t stop there.

Keep a list of questions your clients and prospective clients ask. If you speak at conferences, facilitate workshops, or host webinars, keep a list of the questions that come from the audience. If you are a guest on a podcast, keep a list of the questions the host asks. Anytime you meet someone who is interested in your work, whether you meet them at a networking event or at a dinner with friends, pay attention to the questions they ask. Those questions offer insights into people’s challenges and fascinations.

When it comes time to evaluate those questions, look for those that:

• Ask for help getting unstuck.
• Come up repeatedly in conversation.
• Represent an obstacle to progress.
• Can be meaningfully addressed within the scope of an article.
• Allow you to share insights backed by your experience-based expertise.

The truth is that if one person has a question, several others probably have the same one. These questions may seem simple to you, but you are not your client — you are the expert your client comes to for help. And what seems so simple to you only seems simple because you’ve been engaged in this work for so long.

Debra Roberts, who created a communication model that revolutionizes how we live and work together, is an Authority Accelerator client. She wrote “Emotional Regulation: How to Keep Your Cool When It Counts” for Inc. The article was written in direct response to one of her clients asking her how their team could work better together when they were under a tremendous amount of stress.

Because she knew the circumstances surrounding her client’s challenges, and she knew that countless companies were navigating similar waters, she knew the answer to this question would make for an excellent article.

The more specific the situation and the more specific the question, the easier it is to write an article that will be of value to your readers.

Provide the right amount of context.

One of the best tricks for writing an article that provides the right amount of context is to write the article in an email. Imagine that you received an email from a great client that asks you a specific question about a challenge they are currently facing and would like your help to navigate. I suspect you’d be able to answer that question relatively easily.

Now, open your email server and email the question to yourself — and then email a response. Because email is a less formal and more conversational platform, your response will be less formal and more conversational. It is also more likely to include only the context the recipient needs to have, making it actionable instead of overwhelming.

Jonathan Dursi, a leadership development consultant who helps STEM PhDs achieve their potential as leaders and managers, is a graduate of Pathway to Publication. When he wrote “Train More PhDs to Lead — and Break Canada’s Innovation Gridlock” for the Canadian Science Policy Centre, he knew the association’s members were deeply invested in addressing the country’s declining innovation performance.

Because he knew he was writing to his colleagues within Canada’s innovation ecosystem, he also knew that he didn’t have to provide a lot of context and could instead focus on his core argument that Canada needs to invest more in helping its top talent acquire the skills they need to be exceptional leaders.

While some articles require a more nuanced discussion, either because the audience doesn’t have a background in your area of expertise or because you are proposing an idea that you expect will attract pushback, you don’t need to share everything you know to give your reader the information they need to take their next step.

* * *

The more you write in response to specific questions about specific situations, the easier it will be to zoom out and write broader overview pieces that introduce people to your work. By starting with articles that focus on the specifics, you’ll start to see themes emerge in your work, and those themes can then become the basis for a broader overview piece. You can then use that overview piece to link back to the more specific pieces where your readers can find more information and dive a bit deeper. Starting with an overview piece is challenging. It’s just too tempting to include everything you know and address every possible variation of every possible situation.

So, start by addressing a specific question from a specific individual navigating a specific situation. (In fact, this article was inspired by a client’s struggle to figure out where to start and where to end an article she was writing.) Remember that your article is not meant to be the definitive work on your area of expertise. It is instead a snapshot; a single part of a much larger whole.

When you focus on helping your reader take one small step forward, you create valuable content that serves your readers without overwhelming them.

And that positions you as a trusted guide who can help your readers navigate whatever challenges come their way.