I’d like to extend a few challenges:
- See how few words you can use and still get what you want.
- See how few steps you can make between deciding what you want and getting it.
- See how good you can get at getting people to give you a “Yes.”
These are tied into one observation: very few people have purpose, direction, or even simple decision-making skills. Most people are really good at responding to directions, and the simpler the better (you know what attraction spans are like nowadays).
Harsh?
I don’t care. It’s true. (And I’m sick of being nice about loserishness.)
So few people I’ve come across know what they want, nevermind the ability to communicate it. And the idle chatter – Lawd – it offends my Buddhist sensibilities. From students to cashiers to my own peers… I’ve encountered a serious lack of Bout-It-ness.
The first step is easy: Know what you want (what you want to say, what point you want to make, etc.)
Well, I say it’s easy… maybe that’s why I didn’t have any problems in my life. I just went, went, went. I could recognize what I wanted, and would just go make it happen. Lately, I’ve noticed that a whole bunch of people just aren’t the same way. And it’s even about the most simple, unimportant things.
So, there’s the next thing: Separate the important stuff from the mental garbage.
There’s so much stuff glorping up Life. The news, stupid trends… but, if you know what you’re about, you can determine what is and is not relevant to you. Like I’ve said before: just because something exists doesn’t mean you have to entertain it.
Stop holding onto so much mental garbage.
And, finally: Stop Walking Up the Down Escalator
On top of not giving time and energy to stuff that doesn’t matter, use your time and energy doing things that actually make an impact and get you closer to achieving your goal. Go for the most bang for your buck.
The same goes for how you use your words.
Have a point. Direct everything to that point. Make your point. It is seriously not that difficult. Uncertainty can be a virtue, if it spurs us to ask questions and know what we don’t know, but it’s poison otherwise. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than be a rambling rambler and remove all doubt.
And I know our Embarrassment-In-Chief doesn’t provide the best role model for good public speaking. He’s notorious for speaking in incoherent fragments, for rambling, and being an overall dunce. So, if anything, use him as a How Not To Do guide.
Don’t be afraid to say what you want.
This mirrors my ‘All-In’ 5-step approach to gettin’ shit done. Here’s the infographic:
If you’d like more info about how to make your story happen, check out my writing guide here:
