When you try to make a point or you’ve got a message to share, it’s really important that you don’t cloud it or distort it with a whole lot of other information or other messages and then I don’t actually know what it was you’re trying to say.   

So I heard this example, and I listened to a number of podcasts during the week, and I heard it from different podcasts so I can’t remember where it came from.   

But you’ll get the gist and to whoever’s idea this was or the multiple people, I’m attributing this to you.  

But if you’ve got, say, a message on a piece of paper, so maybe it’s a blog post that you’re writing, maybe it’s the core of what you do that’s on your website, maybe it’s just an email that you’re writing to a client, but if you’ve got a key message, then you want to get that message or that point across.  

But if you’ve then got a whole lot of other messages all wrapped up in the same, so let’s assume I’ve got them all on these balls of paper (oops just dropped it) and I’ve actually pre done this.  

So imagine if there’s a message on all of these bits of paper, and it’s a different message, and then I threw them all at you.  

How many did you catch?  

Now chances are, you’ve caught at least one, maybe two.  

And if it’s the same message, so the same message but coming from different angles or different points of view, great because you’re going to catch it and you’re going to understand what I’m trying to say.  

However, if there was a different message on each of those bits of paper and the chances are that you only caught one or two of them… that means that three or more have actually dropped out of your radar and you didn’t even get to catch them which means you don’t know what they are.  

Then the chances are that some of the goodness that I want to share with you is going to get lost.   

Yet, if on every single piece of paper was the same message, whether you caught one of them, or two of them or more, you’re going to understand what I mean.  

And I thought it’s such a great idea because so often, especially in the advice industry, we put so much into our communications or so much into our messaging or so much onto our website or in a blog post that the person on the other end is going; “fruitcakes, I don’t actually know what it was that you’re trying to say”.  

So whenever you are communicating, maybe it’s a presentation you’re doing, make sure you sit back and you think, what is the key message or point I want from this communication to get across loud and clear to the client?   

And then have that, like I said, coming from different angles.  

Maybe you’ve got an analogy about it or a metaphor, maybe you’ve got a story or a case study or some stats or some facts that help me understand what the one key message or the point of the communication was without distortion or without feeling like I’m having to juggle balls and work it all out.  

Anyway, I thought it was a really great tip, like I said, whoever came up with it, then thank you.   

And I thought it might be something useful for anyone listening to this. 

Because after all, You are Valuable.