I don't really like tips; tips about communicating
well, tips about writing.
What I would prefer is a process that transforms
you so the tips take place automatically.
I mean for instance, very often a tip is given:
“When you're speaking to a crowd, vary the
pace of your speech, vary the volume.”
Well, those are two good things, but if they
happen mechanically it gets to be kind of
boring.
Some people are encouraged when they're coached:
“At this point leave where you're standing
and walk over there and take a pause.”
Well, maybe that makes sense in terms of how
it's written; at the end of that paragraph
you want to make a space before the next paragraph,
but it doesn't necessarily make sense in terms
of how you're talking and relating to the
people you're talking with.
That—relating to them—should be the source
of a pause, the source of moving, because
it comes out of the thought process I'm going
through and it comes out of the thought process
I sense you're going through.
Have you understood that last part?
So now I'm thinking, if you have what's the
next thing that I can tack onto that that
will mean something to you?
And if you haven't, should I clarify it a
little more?
So there's a dynamic relationship between
us that leads to a change in pace, to a change
in volume and that kind of thing.
A tip is just an intellectualization of that,
which might be okay to give somebody once
they've got the grounding in the ability to
connect, but it ought to come out of the connection.
It shouldn't be a checkbox that you tick off.
So I really don’t like tips.
If I'm pressed really hard there are three
tips that I do kind of follow.
Probably it's a good idea to follow these
tips after you get used to being connected
to somebody, but there are three things that
I like to do, I call it the three rules of
three.
So the first rule is, I try only to say three
important things when I talk to people.
No more than three.
If it's one thing that's maybe even better,
but usually there's a lot to say.
When I make notes on what I want to talk about,
if I see I'm going on past three to four and
five I start eliminating them or seeing if
I can fold them into the other things.
Because three things are really all I can
remember and I don't work from notes when
I talk to people and I advise other people
not to.
I never read it because reading just excommunicates
you; it's not communication it's excommunication,
in my view.
So I can't remember more than three things,
and I don't think they can remember more than
three things, so what's the point of telling
them stuff they're not going to remember?
So I stick to three.
That's rule number one of the rule of three
things.
The second rule is, if I have a difficult
thing to understand, if there's something
I think is not going to be that easy to get,
I try to say it in three different ways because
I think if you come in from different angles
you have a better chance of getting a three-dimensional
view of this difficult idea, so I try to say
it three different ways.
And the third tip, which I always forget,
is that if I have a difficult thing that's
hard to get, I try to say it three times through
the talk, so that the first time you hear
it you start to get used to it, the second
time it's familiar and the third time you
say, “Oh yeah, right.
Okay.”
Now, I do follow those three tips, but I don't
think I tell somebody: “You're going to
get up to talk, here are three tips to remember.”
It's a process.
You've got to get transformed into being a
better communicator.
You've got to go through steps where it's
like going to the gym, only it's a lot more
fun than going to the gym because it involves
connecting with another person and we're built
to connect with another person.
In spite of the fact that we often avoid it,
it actually is fun when we get into that position.
So if we could get ourselves transformed into
liking connecting with the audience we're
talking to or writing for, then these tips
will happen automatically or finally we'll
be able to put them to work in terms of that
transformed way we have of connecting.
It really feels good.
