For about four years, I was a full-time freelancer for Grammarly, serving as a key player in their content marketing program. During my time there, the company made some of its biggest advances, growing from one million to ten million active users. It was fun to play a role in that, creating viral content that helped cement Grammarly as the premier AI writing tool for better written communication.

SEO content writing — I crafted hundreds of articles about writing better for Grammarly, helping to drive top-of-funnel engagement.

Media relations and outreach — Can I write a media outreach email? Yes, I can! My outreach strategy landed Grammarly in over 1,800 top publications in less than a year, including elite outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and Politico.

Close your eyes. Imagine words as people in an office setting. The verbs scurry about, active and animated, getting things done. The adjectives and adverbs conjure ideas and images in the marketing department. But there’s always that one guy. See him? He’s over by the water cooler, leaning against the wall. He’s omnipresent, and yet nobody really knows what he does. He may be hanging around, but he sure doesn’t seem to be pulling his weight.

That One Guy could represent any word or phrase that always shows up in our writing but doesn’t contribute anything. Here’s a list of thirty-one words and phrases you need to take off your payroll this year.

Watch out for flabby phrases at all times.

Have you ever struggled to make sense of a message because its author didn’t write clearly? Or maybe you wrote something that was misunderstood by your audience. It’s possible your writing was cluttered with filler words. Just like a desk littered with too much stuff, untidy writing can make it hard for your reader to find what they’re looking for.

The saying, often attributed to Mark Twain, goes, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Unessential words and phrases make your text unnecessarily long and potentially confusing. Lean writing requires knowing your messy writing habits.

Most writers are oblivious to the filler words and phrases they use. That’s why we raised awareness with our first article on the topic, 31 Words and Phrases You No Longer Need. Here are 23 more to watch for.

People use hedging words because they don’t want to appear demanding or bossy. And yet, these words can sound wishy-washy and make your writing less powerful.

Sometimes hedging words convey subtle differences in meaning. (Slightly overweight paints a more precise picture than overweight.) Just make sure you use these words with intent when you want to add another layer of meaning. Otherwise, they diminish your writing’s impact.

I’m slightly annoyed by Kate’s repeated tardiness.

Their plan was kind of short-sighted.

Although the jargon may be a bit overused, people who think outside the box are often labeled as innovators, a desirable quality in life and business. It’s easy and safe to go with the flow, but leaders buck trends rather than follow them.

We’ve all been in that meeting where the team was encouraged to “think outside the box.” The problem is that we’re creatures of habit and most of us prefer the comfort of familiar routines. Thinking outside the box can mean challenging long-held beliefs. It’s about answering “These are our best practices” not with a nod but with a raised eyebrow.

Companies often avoid risks that could have a negative effect on their profits, even when there are plenty of success stories to illustrate that some risks not only pay off, they pay off big. Steve Jobs was fired by the board of directors of the company he founded. But later, after Apple bought the NeXT operating system his team created, Jobs went on to become the CEO of Apple and stocks rose 9,000 percent under his leadership.

Despite the chance for failure and rejection, risks are essential for growth on a personal and business level. And yet, although we’re often told we should think outside the box, we’re rarely told how.

No matter how well you write, no matter how carefully you proofread, your article or story can’t live up to its potential if it’s not well organized.

We all know someone who can’t tell a joke without doubling back to include some missing element that’s critical to the punchline. This happens to the best of us, but it happens less when we take a moment to organize a story in our heads before telling it.

If organizing your thoughts is essential to being known as a superb raconteur, it’s as important in written communication.

When you’re preparing longform text, your goal is to make that text as easy for your reader to absorb as possible. If the reader has to double back to make sense of your article, or if it’s presented in a babbling stream of consciousness from which the reader must fish for your main points, your article will have less impact.

Fifty-five percent of visitors will read an article for 15 seconds or less before moving on. Obvious organization will make your post more skimmable, and that’s a good thing! A reader is more likely to stick around when a quick scan reveals that the information in your article is relevant.

Headings with relevant keywords can also help Google recognize critical topics in longer posts, which is better for SEO. That’s especially important if you’re writing a blog post or any other piece of content that relies on search engine traffic.