Whenever a celebrity or famous person gets in trouble, it’s news, right?

So imagine my shock today to see that an Pro Bowl NFL running back had been let go (essentially fired) because of what he posted on Twitter. {See Politis PR Tip #45: Think Before You Tweet.}

Clearly Larry Johnson wasn’t sacked by the Kansas City Chiefs just because of his tweet on October 25th; but it didn’t help matters either.

Years ago I got some very good advice from a boss that went something like this.

If you need to complain about something or chew someone out (in writing), write what you want to say, and then sit on it for a day. If you still feel the same way 24 hours later, then go ahead and send it.

I’ve used this advice many times during my career, and it’s saved me from several potentially embarrassing situations. And in each instance where I was protected from myself, I found that

• there was more information I didn’t know initially,
• things were not so bad a day later as they had once been, or
• I had let my emotions cloud my judgment and color my writing.

The Cautionary Tale: Once you push “enter” or drop that letter into the mail box, you can’t take it back.

In other words, think before you mail or email anything.