If you can’t say it with brevity, you don’t know it with clarity.
Back in 2009, I taught a law school contracts class. It was one of my most rewarding professional experiences, and I was proud to be voted professor of the year for my unique approach to teaching students how to learn better and faster.
What made my teaching so different? I told my students that the best way to learn is to teach. During each class, I would randomly call on students to come to the front of the room while I walked back and sat in their seat. I asked them to teach the class one of the legal cases and applicable laws I had assigned from the textbook for that day. They were judged by their classmates and graded by me on who could most clearly, briefly, and succinctly summarize the case to the class.
As they left the class each day, every student was required to submit a written 1-10 evaluation of each classmate’s presentation. Those scores played a role in each student’s final grade.
One key factor I told the students to use in the evaluations was brevity. Students who could recite the facts of a case and summarize the applicable law in the fewest possible words received higher scores. This was an instructional game changer. The students didn’t just study before class—they often devoted hours to rehearsing how they could summarize what they had studied without missing anything important.
Initially, my students hated this “on the spot” and potentially embarrassing learning process. They were nervous about going in front of the room, often fumbling words and giving disjointed, unintelligible presentations. But by mid-semester, almost every student LOVED the approach, with hands flying up when I would occasionally ask for a volunteer instead of calling a student’s name that I had chosen.
A common phrase emerged in the students’ presentations: “In a nutshell.” As students began wrapping up their presentations, I heard it more and more. That got me curious, so one day I asked if anyone in the class knew the origin of the phrase “in a nutshell.” Nobody did, and neither did I. So, I looked it up—and it’s pretty interesting.
It turns out this common phrase dates back to around 50 AD when the Roman writer Pliny the Elder made a rather odd observation. Pliny complained about a copy of Homer’s *Iliad* that was written so microscopically that it could supposedly fit into a nutshell. While it’s unclear whether this was a literal or exaggerated account, the idea of fitting something vast into a tiny space sparked the metaphor. So, the next time you sum up a long story in a sentence or two, you’re channeling a bit of Pliny’s nutshell ingenuity!
Professionals should know how to explain things to clients (or patients) in a nutshell, right? You probably know someone in my industry, real estate. The next time you see them, ask if they know the “definition of real estate.” Anybody in the business ought to know how to summarize the business, right?
Here’s my definition:
Real estate is real property plus the title thereto, meaning real property capable of being privately owned and sold. In many countries, like Israel, much of the real property is owned by the State. Therefore, it never becomes “real estate” because it cannot be privately owned.
If real estate is real property you can privately own, what is real property? It is:
- The land (the dirt beneath your feet)
- What’s beneath it (minerals or water)
- What’s attached thereto (trees, plants that grow)
- What’s erected thereon (structures)
- The right of light and air above (nobody can build over your land)
While various governmental rules (like zoning) can affect those five real property attributes, that’s where you start.
What are my takeaways today? Real estate is not the same as real property. The best way to learn is to teach. If you can’t say it with brevity, you don’t know it with clarity. That’s it… in a nutshell.
