Silence Breeds Anxiety

Not knowing is hard. Brief updates can solve this.

Earlier this week, I ran into travel delays that ended with a cancelled flight.

The hardest part? The long stretches of silence from the airline—no updates, no information, just waiting and wondering what was happening.

Example:

At 3:15 PM: “We’ll take off at the top of the hour. We’ll start moving in the next 20–25 minutes.”

Forty, fifty, seventy-five minutes later—still sitting there, no updates.

At 4:45 PM: “We’re delayed two hours. We’ll deplane and let you know next steps.”

Thirty minutes later—nothing. Then, suddenly, the notice board flips to “cancelled.” No outreach from the airline; we were left to figure it out ourselves.

That waiting, after a stated update was supposed to occur? The worst.

And: it’s avoidable.

A simple update—even just, “I know I said we’d have news, but we’re still waiting. I’ll let you know as soon as I know more”—would have made the difference.

Leaving customers (or clients) in silence, to stew and wonder, is never good.

This applies just as much to lawyers and our clients as it does to airlines and passengers.

Clients don’t like surprises. Litigation is full of them.

The easiest way to combat that? Regular updates—even if the update is, “No change since my last update.”

Of course, some clients prefer less frequent communication. That’s fine. Every human’s tolerance for silence is different (mine is admittedly low).

So, give the client the option:

“I’ll send weekly updates on Wednesdays, with substantive or emergency items in between when necessary—unless or until you tell us you prefer ad hoc updates instead.”

Am I an over-communicator? Probably. But I can count on less than five fingers the times a client, partner, or mentor has asked me to communicate less.

♥️✌🏻🔥