Your goal is to get someone from point A to point B so try and make it as concise and simple to do as possible.
I am geographically inept. At any given moment I DON'T know east from west and I can get lost in the blink of an eye.
Because of this I am also an expert on confusing and poor quality directions.
The shortest driving distance between two points is not always the best route.
Directions that have me cutting through subdivisions and taking confusing turns are not helpful.
Driving a 1.5 ton vehicle and looking at every distracting street sign to see if this is the correct turn is how most drivers training films begin.
How is this helping me? How is it impacting the safety of the kids playing kickball in the neighborhood?
"A little while", "not far" and "aways" are NOT units of time or distance so why are you using them?
When giving directions it's ok to say 3-5 miles or 5 -10 minutes if your not 100% sure. I just need to know that if I've been on the road for 10 miles or 30 minutes....I've definitely gone too far.
I recently had to tease this information out of someone when getting directions. Example:
- They said "aways"
- I said "2 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles"
- They said "at least"
- I followed up with "35 miles"?
- The reply..."don't be silly. It's about 10 miles."
I felt like I was playing " The High Low Game" on the Price is Right.
Before you start giving me 6 alternate sets of directions ....STOP.
I do not need to know every option available to me to get to the destination. I need only 1 set of simple accurate directions. Having options available to me is great however my ability to pick and choose my decision tree of options while driving at 65 mph in heavy traffic is not safe for anyone.
Write them down before saying them out loud.
I'm listening intently to the directions when I hear..."turn right at road X" followed by "no don't go that way".
When this happens 3 or more times in one set of instructions I'm officially confused. While driving I won't be able to remember which roads I am or am not supposed to take because they all sound familiar now.
BTW: I've learned the hard way to write down what people tell me and then read the instructions back to them. This is especially fun because they always change the directions when they hear them out loud.
Next time you go to give someone directions try to take the lean approach. Remember: the goal is the destination, remove decision trees and simplify the instructions. FWIW- All I need is an address these days...I own a navigation system.
