Why you can’t articulate like you think

Summary

This video script delves into the art of articulate communication, revealing three secrets to express thoughts effectively. The first secret emphasizes the importance of connotation, the rich tapestry of experiences behind words. It advises avoiding 'Blue Sky language' and using emotional bridging to connect with listeners. The second secret introduces 'whisper drafting,' a technique to refine thoughts before speaking. The third secret, cognitive priming, prepares the listener for calculated speech, enhancing understanding. The speaker also shares resources and personal software designed to improve articulate speech.

Takeaways

• 📚 The speaker read six books on articulate speaking and shares secrets and resources to improve speech.
• 🌐 Connotation is the rich background of experiences and emotions behind words, which is crucial for effective communication.
• 🎻 Speaking is like translating complex mental images into the limited bandwidth of spoken words, which can be challenging.
• 🚧 Language has limitations in expressing the full depth of our thoughts and emotions, requiring us to find ways to communicate more effectively.
• 🌈 Avoid 'Blue Sky language' that states the obvious and instead focus on unique details to enrich the connotation of our speech.
• 🔗 Use emotional bridging to connect with the listener by invoking shared emotional experiences, enhancing understanding.
• 🤔 Whisper drafting, a technique by Teddy Roosevelt, allows for a silent rehearsal of sentences before speaking them aloud.
• ⏱ Asking for more time to think before responding can improve the quality of our answers and avoid hasty replies.
• 💡 Cognitive priming sets the expectation that the speaker is choosing words with precision, increasing accountability and clarity.
• 📝 The speaker is developing software to help people articulate sentences and structure speech like history's greatest speakers.
• 🔗 The video provides a list of cognitive priming lines and resources for those interested in improving their speaking skills.

Q & A

What is the first secret to articulating thoughts effectively as mentioned in the script?

The first secret is to share more connotation, which refers to the experiences, emotions, associations, memories, and images behind our words.

What does 'connotation' represent in the context of the script?

Connotation represents the multitude of feelings, experiences, and associations that are packed behind the words we use, influencing how we express and understand language.

How does the script compare the process of speaking to a musical composer and an orchestra conductor?

The script compares speaking to a musical composer channeling emotion into writing sheet music, and an orchestra conductor reading that music and transforming it into a lively performance, illustrating the translation of thoughts into spoken words and the listener's interpretation of them.

What is 'Blue Sky language' and why should it be avoided according to the script?

Blue Sky language refers to unnecessary and obvious explanations that do not highlight the unique connotations of our thoughts. It should be avoided to access more of the connotation that makes our speech rich and real.

What is the purpose of 'emotional bridging' as a technique for effective communication?

Emotional bridging helps forge a connection with the listener through shared emotional experiences, allowing for a more accurate packing and unpacking of thoughts into words.

How does 'whisper drafting' help in articulating thoughts more effectively?

Whisper drafting allows a person to formulate a rough draft of their sentence silently, providing a chance to revise thoughts before speaking them aloud, similar to the process of writing.

What is the significance of asking for more time to think before answering a question?

Asking for more time to think helps in providing a clear and well-structured answer, as it allows the speaker to gather their thoughts and avoid rushing into a response that may lack clarity.

What is 'cognitive priming' and how does it enhance communication?

Cognitive priming is a technique where a speaker informs the listener that they are choosing their words with precision, which heightens attention and accountability in communication, leading to a more careful and intentional speech.

How does the script suggest using cognitive priming to improve speech?

The script suggests using cognitive priming by prefacing statements with an indication of calculated word choice, which can slow down speech, increase accountability, and enhance understanding.

What resource is the speaker developing to help people articulate sentences and structure their speech?

The speaker is developing software designed to assist people in composing articulate sentences and structuring their speech like history's greatest speakers.

How can the techniques and insights from the script be applied to improve one's communication skills?

By understanding and incorporating connotation, avoiding Blue Sky language, using emotional bridging, practicing whisper drafting, asking for more time to think, and employing cognitive priming, one can enhance their ability to articulate thoughts and communicate effectively.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Articulation Secrets: Unpacking Connotation

The first paragraph discusses the concept of connotation in speech and its importance in effectively communicating thoughts and emotions. It uses the analogy of a musical composer to explain how our internal experiences are translated into spoken words, which the listener then interprets based on their own associations. The speaker identifies the limitation of language in fully conveying our rich internal experiences and introduces the idea of avoiding 'Blue Sky language' to enhance the depth of communication. The paragraph also introduces the technique of 'emotional bridging' to forge a connection with the listener through shared emotional experiences, helping to better convey the intensity and nuance of the speaker's message.

05:01

🗣️ Enhancing Verbal Expression: Techniques and Tools

This paragraph delves into the challenges of finding the right words to articulate clear thoughts and the frustration that arises from the gap between our thoughts and our verbal expression. It introduces Teddy Roosevelt's 'whisper drafting' technique as a method to revise sentences internally before speaking them aloud, akin to a painter testing colors on a canvas. The speaker also suggests requesting more time to think before responding, which can improve the clarity of communication. The concept of 'cognitive priming' is introduced as a way to train the mind to be more precise with word selection, making speech more intentional and effective.

10:02

🛠️ Cognitive Priming and Upcoming Speech Software

The final paragraph focuses on the technique of cognitive priming, which involves a deliberate and careful selection of words to communicate thoughts more effectively. The speaker explains how this technique can heighten the listener's attention and the speaker's accountability for their words. The paragraph concludes with an announcement of an upcoming software tool designed to help individuals articulate their thoughts more clearly, inviting interested viewers to stay tuned for its release.

Keywords

💡Connotation

Connotation refers to the multitude of experiences, emotions, associations, memories, meaning, and images packed behind our words. In the video, it is emphasized as crucial for effectively articulating thoughts, as it helps convey the rich, complex ideas and emotions associated with a word. For example, discussing 'war' brings various connotations like tragedy, death, and historical events.

💡Blue Sky Language

Blue Sky Language is a term used to describe the unnecessary explanation of obvious details that everyone understands. In the video, avoiding Blue Sky Language helps make speech more dynamic and engaging by focusing on unique and rich details rather than stating the obvious, such as describing the sky as blue.

💡Emotional Bridging

Emotional Bridging involves connecting with the listener through shared emotional experiences. The video suggests this technique helps convey the speaker's emotions more effectively by inviting the listener to recall their similar experiences, thereby enhancing mutual understanding.

💡Whisper Drafting

Whisper Drafting is a technique where one speaks softly to themselves to draft their thoughts before speaking aloud. This method, mentioned in the video, helps refine thoughts and sentences, similar to revising writing, thus improving clarity and articulation in spoken communication.

💡Cognitive Priming

Cognitive Priming involves setting the expectation that one’s words are carefully chosen and calculated. In the video, it is used to enhance the listener's attention and engagement, making the speaker more accountable and deliberate in their word choice.

💡Mentalese

Mentalese, a term coined by psycholinguist Steven Pinker, refers to the language of the mind that encompasses our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. The video highlights the challenge of translating Mentalese into spoken words, which often leads to frustration when the full depth of one's thoughts isn't conveyed.

💡Articulation

Articulation is the clear and effective expression of thoughts in spoken words. The video addresses the common problem of not being able to articulate thoughts satisfactorily and offers techniques to improve this skill, such as avoiding Blue Sky Language and using Whisper Drafting.

💡Low Bandwidth Mechanism

Low Bandwidth Mechanism refers to the limitation of spoken words in fully conveying the depth and richness of our thoughts (Mentalese). The video compares speech to a low bandwidth method of communication that requires compromises, leading to the challenge of accurately expressing complex ideas.

💡Revise

Revising in the context of speech involves rethinking and refining sentences before speaking them aloud. The video suggests techniques like Whisper Drafting to introduce the benefits of revision found in writing to spoken communication, thus enhancing clarity and precision.

💡Shared Understanding

Shared Understanding is the mutual comprehension achieved between a speaker and a listener. The video emphasizes the importance of techniques like Emotional Bridging and Cognitive Priming to foster a shared understanding, ensuring that the listener accurately grasps the speaker's intended message.

Highlights

The concept of 'connotation' is introduced as the rich background of experiences and emotions behind our words.

Steven Pinker's term 'mentalese' is used to describe the internal language of the mind that we attempt to translate into spoken words.

The limitation of language in fully expressing our thoughts and emotions is discussed, highlighting the challenge of articulation.

Avoiding 'Blue Sky language' is suggested to prevent over-generalization and to convey unique connotations more effectively.

Emotional bridging is presented as a technique to connect with the listener through shared emotional experiences.

The importance of avoiding obvious explanations and focusing on unique details to enrich speech is emphasized.

Whisper drafting, a technique to revise sentences internally before speaking them aloud, is introduced as a solution to improve articulation.

The idea of requesting more time to think before responding is proposed as a strategy to enhance clarity in communication.

Cognitive priming is introduced as a method to increase precision and accountability in speech by carefully selecting words.

The difference between self-dialogue and conversation with another person is highlighted to emphasize the impact of social boundaries on speech.

A list of cognitive priming lines used in speeches and interviews is mentioned as a resource for improving articulate speech.

The speaker announces the development of software designed to help people articulate sentences and structure speech more effectively.

The importance of not expecting immediate responses and allowing time for thought to achieve clarity in answers is discussed.

The speaker's personal experience of building software in a 'dark closet' for several weeks is shared to illustrate dedication to the topic.

An invitation for those interested in speaking brilliantly to check a waitlist is extended, promoting further engagement with the speaker's work.

The speaker thanks the audience for watching, emphasizing the value of the shared knowledge and techniques for better articulation.

Transcripts

I read these six books on speaking

articulately and I want to share three

astonishing secrets and three resources

with you that have allowed me to finally

solve my problem of being unable to

articulate my thoughts the first secret

is to share more connotation connotation

refers to the multitude of experiences

emotions associations memories meaning

and images that are packed behind our

words let's visualize this if someone

speaks about war that idea a of war is

the representation of many feelings

passing through their mind they may have

seen war read about war watched War

films and know that people associate war

with tragedy and death the combination

of all these various elements creates

the language of the Mind what

psycholinguist Steven Pinker called

mental Lees speaking is our attempt of

translating mental Lees into the low

bandwidth mechanism that is the spoken

word our listener receives those words

and unfolds them into the experiences

associations emotions memories and

images that that word has for them think

of this process like a musical composer

experiencing emotion and channeling that

emotion into writing Sheep music an

Orchestra conductor can read the Sheep

music and guide the orchestra and

transforming those static notes on page

into a lively powerful performance of

Beethoven Symphony Number Five the

emotions that we experience listening to

this live music cannot possibly be

represented by Simple black and white

notation on

paper frustration with articulation

occurs when we expect our connotation to

be fully represented by our words and

transplanted somehow in our listener's

mind which is frankly an impossible ask

translating our 4D thoughts into what

really our 1D world words requires

compromise which often results in that

familiar sensation of not being able to

express ourselves

satisfactory these books make it very

clear that language simply does not give

us the full capacity to thoroughly

Express what we're thinking feeling

fearing wanting in a given moment but we

can't get close this invites the

question how can we

communicate more connotation so that one

our words better capture what it is

that's on our mind and two our listener

can unfold our words into something that

closely resembles what we experience two

actions have helped me accomplish this

the first is to avoid Blue Sky language

imagine I've painted a stunning

landscape and I've invited you to view

my artwork I explain to you that I

painted the trees green because most

trees are green and I painted this the

sky blue because well blue is the color

of the sky you'd probably find those

statements rather odd why well they're

unnecessary because you and I both share

a fundamental understanding of the

colors of nature this blue sky language

simply doesn't highlight the dynamic

colors and details that are unique to my

art the same is true with our words our

tendency is to explain the obvious this

often brushes over the connotation that

makes our thought feel rich and real

here's a list of the common Blue Sky

words and phrases that we unconsciously

default to that lead to our sentences

feeling lethargic and lifeless instead

ask yourself this question if I had to

defend this thought as being my

thought what details would I

highlight that most people wouldn't know

about these details descriptions access

more of the connotation that surrounds

your thought in your mind and leads to

great greater satisfaction with your

speech the second action is to use

emotional bridging this technique is a

brilliant one and involves forging a

connection with your listener through

shared emotional experiences for

example say I had a troubling day and I

told you I'm frustrated behind that

sentence is packed the weight of my

entire day as frustrating and troubling

as it is but unfortunately you unpack

that through your own connotation

which doesn't preserve the emotion and

intensity that I tried to stitch into

that sentence what I could say instead

is think of a recent time when you felt

frustrated recall that overwhelming

sensation that's what I'm experiencing

right now what's happening is you're

establishing common ground with how you

feel by inviting your listener to

identify their parallel experience this

helps you better pack your thoughts into

words and AIDS your listener in

unpacking those words more accurately so

we understand that connotation helps us

better articulate our thoughts but how

can we retrieve the right words because

frustration often also occurs when we

have a clear thought

but lack the verbal arithmetic to solve

it with words it's only after we turn

out muddled sentences do we realize

there's a discrepancy between what's in

our mind and what our mouth produced

people often bewail why can't I simply

speak like I write well what does

writing afford US that speaking does not

one the ability to revise our

sentences and two additional time to

think what if we could find a way to

introduce those qualities into our

speech I tripped over a technique

recently from Teddy Roosevelt called

whisper drafting Roosevelt was aware

that his first attempt at collapsing

thoughts into words would be a complete

wash out but he didn't want to populate

the air with vagueness so he would part

his mouth slightly front teeth together

and he would say his sentence out loud

under his breath barely breathing the

words you likely can't hear that but

you're moving your tongue without moving

your lips to others this appeared to be

a pause but to Roosevelt it was his

first attempt at formulating a rough

draft of his sentence without speaking a

out think of it as coloring in a tree on

a canvas you can theorize what shades of

green might enhance your painting but

it's only after you've put paint on the

canvas that it becomes obvious that it

was or was not the right choice of color

whisper drafting is a brilliant

technique I've used it often and it

allows you to color in your thoughts

before committing to speaking those

words aloud this solves the revision

challenge how about supplying ourselves

with more time to think well we we can't

make up more

time or can we we've all been told to

pause before that's not what I'm

suggesting but what if we ask for more

time could it be as simple as saying

give me a moment to think about that or

let me process that for a moment what

Elite communicators realize is that

coughing up an answer immediately is

often a self-imposed burden a form of

intellectual sabotage whereby you

sacrifice Clarity for a Swift

Delivery when we're asked a

question it often is comparable

to a calm pool of water being disrupted

by a stone the Ripples and waves need to

settle down before a calm clear answer

can be produced that takes time which

you can request by using any of these

phrases that I've collected this

resource will be linked below the final

secret I want to introduce you to is

cognitive priming it's no secret that

many of us battle daily with finding the

kernel of our thought particularly if

we've never before attempted to

translate it into words frustration

overtakes us not because we're not

saying what we're thinking but because

what we're saying is shrouded in bubble

wrap cardboard wrapped in duct tape

packed in a crate and buried in a

shipping container under a pile of

potatoes putting our thoughts into words

can often feel like blindly slinging

darts at a dart board we eventually hit

a bullseye but at the cost of too many

attempts how can we train our mouth to

be more accurate so that each of our

sentences contributes to building out

our thought before we answer that I want

to pose a question to

you what is the

difference between speaking to yourself

in the

mirror and dialoguing with

someone in a

conversation

well alone you can say anything you want

to yourself but with another there are

social boundaries that govern your

speech and shape it to be more

considerate delicate or intentional in

other words you're accountable for your

words with another person there's

another layer of accountability that we

can introduce that will help you be even

more selective with your speaking

introducing cognitive priming I want you

to listen very carefully I'm going to

choose

every word with Precision I realize

you're not going to understand what I'm

going to say and I know that by me

saying that you're going to want to

prove me wrong and understand it even

more that's cognitive priming it's a

preamble that informs your listener that

you are bringing an incredible amount of

effort and calculation with selecting

your words this achieves two things very

well one assuming you're speaking with a

single person it breaks the stale

automated back and forth of the

conversation and galvanizes the

attention so you're both in this

heightened state of trying to achieve a

shared understanding of what's been

communicated the second thing it

accomplishes well is putting you in a

position where you're now more

accountable for what you have to say

you've communicated that you are about

to speak with calculation your mind now

becomes more careful with how you shape

your words typically this is accompanied

by a slower calmer way of speaking to

help you with cognitive priming I've

assembled below a list of the top

cognitive priming lines that I found

used in speeches and interviews finally

I wanted to let you know that I've been

in a dark closet for several weeks now

building software that I believe will

help people compose articulate sentences

and structure their speech like

History's Greatest articulators I'll be

releasing this very soon if you're

interested in speaking brilliantly and

beautifully please check the weight list

below and as always thanks for watching