needless to say

Note To Self:

You often use "needless to say," but you don't mean it.  If it were really needless, you wouldn't say it.  The phrase is empty and simply buys you more time on a dramatic ending.  Your life isn't that dramatic so perhaps if something seems "needless to say," you could just shorten your stories, take out the commentary and get to the main point. You can add "to make a long story short," which is often used when you take a really short story and turn it into something intolerably long.

Sincerely:
John