Strip Everything That Is Not the Content
Say an answer with nothing added, and you can see what you had to say.
Imagine a tutor named Imogen who prepares children for the entrance exams of the schools in her city. Last week she recorded a video call with a new family, with their permission, and counted her habits. Now she goes back to one answer on it.
On the recording, Mr. Rasmussen names the school his son is trying for. He asks whether she has prepared a child for its exam. Her answer runs for 50 seconds. “Absolutely, yes, I mean, I’ve done four of those now, I think, and two of them got in, which for that school is a good rate. I know the format inside out, I have the past papers going back years, and, you know, I’d be so happy to work with him on it.” Then she laughs, and Mr. Rasmussen asks his next question.
Imogen writes the answer down word for word. Then she crosses out every word that is not a fact he asked for. The fillers go, and so does “absolutely.” The past papers go, because he did not ask about them, and so does the offer to work with his son. What is left is two sentences: “Yes. Four in the last three years, and two of them got in.”
She says those two sentences into her phone in an even voice, with no smile, and stops at the last word. It takes four seconds. Then she plays the two versions back to back.
The stripped answer has everything Mr. Rasmussen asked for. The other 46 seconds hold nothing he asked for, and she cannot find a sentence in them that she wants back.
That is what stripping an answer is for. The habits come out in the same breath as the facts. So while they are on an answer, you cannot see what you had to say. Say the answer with nothing on it, and what is left is what you had to say all along. It will sound cold. For now, that is what you want. An answer you can see is easier to add to than one you cannot.
An acting studio has actors read their lines flat before they add anything
Charlie Sandlan writes for the Maggie Flanigan Studio, an acting studio in New York. In a post from September 2025 on how actors learn their lines, he lists 11 methods. One of them is reading the lines aloud “in a flat, neutral tone.”
“Focus on the words and rhythm of the script without adding emotion,” he writes. “This lets you notice structure, repetition, and shifts in thought more clearly.” The delivery comes later. “Let your choices show up in the work later. First, lock in the text with clarity and focus.”
An actor’s lines were written by someone else, and the actor still sees them more clearly with the delivery off. Your answers are your own, so the habits in them feel like part of the answer. Do what the actor does. Say the answer flat, and look at the words that are left.
A newsletter writer cuts an explanation in half, and then cuts it again
Tom writes a newsletter called Creative Chaos. In a post from October 2025, he describes the years when he wrote long emails to defend every decision. Then came the day he stopped. “Now I say what needs to be said,” he writes, and then he stops talking. “It’s not arrogance. It’s trust in my preparation.”
He also gives his readers one exercise. He asks them to think of one explanation they keep giving, to their team, their partner, or a client. “Cut it in half,” he writes. “Then cut it again. The point will get sharper.”
His rule is for the answer that is still a paragraph after the fillers are gone. Imogen could see her answer once the fillers were out. When yours is a paragraph of plain sentences, halve it, halve it again, and check whether what survives still answers the question. If it does, the rest was not the answer.
Why an even voice over the same words goes wrong
Imagine a florist named Petra whose recording has a bride’s mother asking what the table flowers would cost. Petra says her answer again in an even voice, with the smile off. The words stay as they were. She gives the price, then says, “which for 12 tables is where most of my weddings land.” She names the three growers she buys from, and ends with “but we can always adjust.” It takes 40 seconds, the same as before, in a quieter voice.
The voice was not the problem. The growers and the offer to adjust were not facts the bride’s mother asked for. A flat voice does not take them away. So Petra goes back to the words. Her answer to the question is one sentence: “The table flowers would be about $4,800 for 12 tables.” She says that, flat, and stops. It takes five seconds.
A stripped answer is meant to sound cold for now
Said flat and short, “Yes. Four in the last three years” sounds like someone who does not much care whether the family hires her. Saying it that way to a family you would like to teach would feel rude.
You will not have to. The stripped answer is for your phone, the way the flat reading is for the actor’s rehearsal. Sandlan’s flat reading is a step in learning the lines, not the performance. The choices, he writes, “show up in the work later.” What goes back onto your answer, and how much, is easier to decide once you can see the answer on its own. For now, leave it bare.
How to strip three answers to the facts
- Go back to the recording you made and the habits you counted. Choose three answers from it. Take the one with the most habits in it, your answer about the price, and the one you were dreading. If two of those are the same answer, choose another.
- Write each answer down word for word, as you said it, with the fillers in.
- Cross out everything that is not a fact the client asked for. That includes the fillers, “absolutely,” credentials nobody asked about, the promise, the apology, and any point made twice. Keep the fact that answers the question, and keep the reason if the answer is a decision that needs one. For example, a music teacher who was asked whether a child of six is too young keeps, “No. I start children at five, with 20-minute lessons.”
- If what is left is still a paragraph, cut it in half, and then in half again. Keep the shortest version that still answers the question.
- Say the stripped answer into your phone in an even voice, with no smile and no laugh after it. Stop at the last word. For example, an event planner who was asked whether she can do a party in three weeks says, “Yes. I have the 24th free, and I’d need the guest list by Friday.” Then she stops.
- Play the original and the stripped version back to back. Write down how long each one took, and whether the stripped one left out any fact the client had asked for. If it did, put that fact back, and only that fact.
- Keep the three stripped answers with the date on them. They are what you have to say once the habits are off, and for now, leave them that way.
Next: You will see how to put warmth back onto a stripped answer without putting the habits back with it.