Give your written words maximum impact

Photo by Sarah Cervantes on Unsplash

If you want a written message to have maximum impact, place the emphatic word at the end of the sentence.

Here’s a great example of what this looks like. It’s from Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar and vice president of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Shakespeare did not write “The Queen is dead, my lord”. He wrote “The Queen, my lord, is dead”.

If you want to read my short post on this subject, it’s available on my marketing blog.

Procrastinate: Pro Crastinus

I was working on a project earlier, when I discovered the root of the word procrastinate. As often happens when you learn the origin of a word, you come to understand the thing the word refers to much, much better.

The root of the word procrastinate, is the Latin, Pro Crastinus.

– “Pro” in Latin means “forward” or “in favour of.”
– “Crastinus” means “of or belonging to tomorrow.”

In short, do it tomorrow.

The challenge with putting sometime off until tomorrow, is that tomorrow never comes. It pays to kick the procrastination habit into touch. Or at the very least, be exceptionally selective about what you procrastinate over.

More than you’re paid for. Better than they expected

It’s the foundation of every successful service business. Do more than you’re paid for and make it better than they expected.

  • More than you are paid for, is what gives your work value.
  • Better than they expected, is what inspires people to tell their friends about you.

By combining those two factors you create a valuable service, which everyone is talking about.

Do more and make it better. Simple.

More organic notes

I recently started to do a lot more of my note-taking, organically. Pen and paper. In notebooks or on scraps of paper.

Over the past 6 months, I’d slowly switched over to doing the vast majority of my note-taking digitally. Either on my phone, iPad or Macs.

But I noticed that something was missing from my notes and creative output. Digital is certainly far more efficient. However, I’m not sure as a creative professional, that efficiency is of first importance.

I think I’ve now discovered what’s missing.

I believe that what’s been missing is the overall experience of working with my hands. Using tools. This changes how I feel when I write. These feelings then change what I write.

There’s a creative spark, at least for me, when working with raw tools, with ink on my fingers, playing with sticky notes and swapping between pens and notebooks.

Since (re)adding analogue notes to my creativity mix, I’ve noticed an increase in my productivity. In fact, I’ve revived this site and started to share some of the ideas that come to mind. It could be a flash in the pan. Time will tell.

FYI, the above photo is today’s pen of choice. A Lamy Al Star.

Be generous with your ideas

If you have 3 diamonds, and you give 1 of them to a stranger, you are left with 2 diamonds. Give all 3 diamonds away and you will be left with none.

If you give someone an idea, 3 ideas or 300 ideas, you still have just as many ideas as you had before.

The smartest people are generous with their ideas. They know that ideas given away are shared, not lost. They’re stingy with those things that are irreplaceable, like their time. But not their ideas.

Run DMC: From Queens, Came Kings

I saw a wonderful piece of street art recently, (above). It’s called From Queens Come Kings.

The title refers to the fact that 3 guys from Hollis, Queens, New York, went on to become international super-stars of music – influencing millions of people. I’m referring to the amazing RUN DMC.

Talent, determination and commitment

Whatever your musical tastes may be, I am willing to guess that there are artists in your music collection, who went from nowhere, to super-stardom. Talent, determination and a commitment to their craft – this seems a recipe for success at the highest level in music.

  • Interestingly, that same talent, determination and commitment has seen many people go from rags to riches in business too.
  • Even more interestingly, you and I were both born with talent in at least one area and we can acquire the learned skills of determination and commitment.

The question is, what are we going to do with all our potential?

As a huge RUN DMC fan, I am so grateful that these 3 amazing people chose to make the world a better place, with their unique sound.

Photo: Bixentr.

Unpacking the average person

Compare different surveys regarding human behaviour. You’ll see how utterly confused, conflicted and rudderless the average person is.

They watch 7 hours of TV or streaming video a day.

They also wish they had more time for family and friends.

They go on weight-loss diets.

They also know diets don’t work.

The vast majority say they walk past homeless people in the street.

They also say society should be more compassionate.

I think there’s a pattern, here.

The art of conversation

Much emphasis is placed on knowing what to say.

Finding the correct words at the ideal moment. And structuring those words effectively.

But there’s another component of communication that we need to learn. Specifically, how to avoid saying the wrong thing, at the tempting time.

Sometimes, silence is golden. At least for a while.

Reality Distortion Field, or just self-confidence?

When you hear Steve Jobs’ former colleagues describe him, they often say he created a Reality Distortion Field. Whatever he told them, they felt compelled to believe. This was true even if they were really sceptical to begin with.

There was no magical field. What they’re referring to is the power of Jobs’ self-belief.

It works both ways.

Smart people who lack self-belief also create a Reality Distortion Field. A negative one. The reality of their intelligence and creativity is horribly distorted. Their ideas and opinions are often dismissed, even if they’re brilliant. Because it’s hard for people to believe in someone, who doesn’t believe in themselves.

Clearly, self-belief is exceptionally valuable in every area of life.

Thankfully, self-belief is also something we create internally.