Ignite your power to communicate.
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Politicians know it. Preachers know it. Teachers know it. You have to repeat yourself. If you want the audience to really get it, to walk out of your presentation knowing the main idea or the call to action, you need to say it a few times. Tell us right up front. Create a headline, a …
When you watch a TV show, a play, or a movie, the set you see is carefully chosen. Let’s say the scene you’re watching takes place in a kitchen. The art director is going to select items that convey something she wants the viewer to know about whose kitchen it is, and the details are …
I heard a phrase recently that was new to me. “Back yourself.” We’re more familiar with backing other people, right? Colleagues, leaders, people we admire, even sports teams. We invest in them, we give them our support. We back them. But in this case, the idea was simply to back yourself. This twist on a …
The writer Stephen Pressfield has a great book called The War of Art. One concept he explores is what he calls “the Resistance.” This is an all-too-common phenomenon for anyone who is trying to make anything—the idea of making the thing is great, but sitting down and grinding it out seems impossible. The Resistance makes …
I’ve noticed lately that it’s common for people to use the word “introverted” to mean “shy,” and “extroverted” to mean “friendly.” This was underscored in a recent conversation with a friend who said, “When I’m with people, I’m totally engaged. I’m tuned in. But I’m an introvert, so it drains me. I have to recharge …
I was talking with a good friend recently who was dealing with a professional dispute. The issues at hand were complex, and she and I were discussing her next steps. She shared a draft of her notes with me, the thoughts she was marshaling for her next conversation with them. It included, in addition to …
This quick video shows how different areas of the brain light up in response to hearing different kinds of words. Our brains sort words into categories, and words that have various meanings, (like “top”), light up our brains in several relevant areas simultaneously. It can be tempting to drop numbers and data on our audiences, …
The most basic definition of a memorial is that it’s something that exists to remind us of a person or an event. Many of us have personal memorials—objects or photos or books or even places that we keep in our lives in order to help us think about people or times past. These are some …
I’ve been binge-watching “Below Deck,” the reality show that takes place on a chartered yacht. Viewers are treated to gorgeous sights of the Mediterranean where the boat cruises, fun scenes of guests on jet skis and water slides, and ongoing drama with the deckhands and stewards who crew the boat. In the midst of this …
Recently I got to watch a group of interesting, passionate women tell stories. One woman shared the story of when she started a golf tournament fundraiser for her local Make-A-Wish chapter. The first section was very deliberately crafted—she used phrases like “And then I turned from my computer and let out a sigh of disappointment.” …
