Mastering the One-Inch Punch

Bruce Lee was famous for many things, and one of them was the one-inch punch. With proper training, he said, a one-inch punch could be just as devastating as a full-wind up punch. Lee said this about it:

"It's about delivering maximum force in a minimal distance."

The MythBusters tested this notion and came away believing that it was plausible.

What does this have to do with you?

A great flaw in some of our smartest people in the grassroots is that they over-talk their points. They say too much and lose their audience.

As a result, they are too often all wind up and no impact.

You might remember the scene in Indiana Jones where the swordsman puts on an impressive display as he approaches Indy, who smirks and then pulls out a gun and shoots his antagonist.

Brief is best. Brevity is the soul of wit. Short and sweet. Less is more.

I teach this in the book and in my seminars with the Inarguable approach. It shows how to address any issue in three sentences and twenty seconds.

For me, this started with my friend, Kay, who told me that she loved my writing, but people hate to read. Therefore, bullets not paragraphs. That was around 2005. Since I heard that, I've worked hard to scrunch the complicated and long-winded into a sentence or two. Marketing-wise, I've spent two decades trying to master the one-inch punch.

Nicole and I were watching Next Level Chef this morning. A guy who cooks for the wealthy on yachts lost to a young guy who grew up scrappy. Why? Yacht guy was accustomed to cooking with a lot of time and full pantries. Scrappy guy had to master refashioning leftovers. Yacht guy didn't know how to abbreviate and edit. His desire to do everything overwhelmed the need to successfully prepare a dish in twenty minutes. That was a new experience for yacht guy, but for scrappy guy it was every day life.

Nobody but the doctoral committee wants the dissertation. No one quotes paragraphs; but a powerful sentence can be on repeat for decades and even centuries.

We all have windshield time. Practice your one-inch punch. In a campaign, it might just save your life. Like Bruce Lee said: "It's about delivering maximum force in a minimal distance."

8 Comments

Paulette (Mar 15, 2025 1:56 PM):

You knocked it out of the park!

Kim (Mar 15, 2025 3:15 PM):

Umm, yeah, you're totally speaking to me. It's very hard to do. I need to remember this more. Thank you!

Roy Getting (Mar 15, 2025 3:28 PM):

The first thing I learned when I started in sales was the elevator speech. How to entice a customer in less than a minute.

Brett Rogers (Mar 15, 2025 3:48 PM):

Yes, yes, Roy. The elevator pitch! Take any idea... how expandable is it? Can you convey it in 20 seconds? 3 minutes? 15 minutes? 1 hour?

That's great practice right there.

KLUJICS (Mar 15, 2025 5:10 PM):

Yep, speaking to me, also. Point taken.

Chappy (Mar 16, 2025 10:00 AM):

I also had to learn, that I had to write on a sixth-grade level to keep the targeted audience interested. When I first started writing, I wrote on a college level, and people lost interest, when I brought it down a level, my articles started getting national attention and were published in many newspapers across the country.

Marcia Watson (Mar 17, 2025 12:34 PM):

Less in more! Love that “inch”

Carol Milder (Mar 18, 2025 1:28 PM):

I love this opinion paper!!! Short, smart, to the point with a dash of humor will hold my attention.