You’ve finished your article, assessment or report and reread it once or twice.  It took longer than you expected, and there is a pile of unfinished work on your desk (or the weather is beckoning you to come outside for a while).  You think, “It looks okay – there are no huge errors or I would have picked them up in the read-through.”

So you save it, send it off, and carry on with your day, knowing that even if there is a mistake or two, they can’t change the state of the nation.

Really?

Here is an article I stumbled across recently that shows the effect of one mistake in a government form.  The letter ‘s’ was inadvertently added to a company name, and the repercussions were considerable!  Click on the link and be shocked…

How a typo destroyed 124-year-old company Taylor & Sons 

Errors and inconsistencies in your own work might not obliterate your company, but they can cause confusion and extra work while you track them down and correct them.  They can also create the impression that your work (although fine in itself) is executed in a sloppy or slapdash manner.  Going the extra mile and ensuring that you have enough time to polish your completed work will give an additional dimension of technical perfection – those reading your writing will not want the added distraction of negotiating spelling and grammar errors.

Allowing your readers to move smoothly through your reports without those little ‘speed-bumps’ will help them understand your proposals and ideas more readily.

And you won’t be decimating any century-old companies.