Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

Be Heard. Speak Plainly.

Every semester I get a handful of students who have settled on the idea that the more big words they use, the better. Regardless of whether they know what those words mean or not.

So I get papers elucidating the patriarchal configuration of the social arrangement, rather than telling me about male-dominated societies. Or they pontificate on the topic of inadequate provision of pedagogical resources vis-à-vis… Continue reading

November 17 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: clarity, language, plain, public-speaking, speaking, writing | 24 comments»

Ask Questions

Children learn by asking questions. Students learn by asking questions. New recruits learn by asking questions. It is the simplest and most effective way of learning. People who think that they know it all no longer ask questions – why should they? Brilliant thinkers never stop asking questions because they know that this is the best way to gain deeper insights.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said… Continue reading

November 10 2008 | By Paul | Tagged: conversation, google, intelligence, learn, philosophy, question | 5 comments»

Edit This Post on Editing

Readers of Tim Ferriss’s 2007 book The Four-Hour Workweek might be familiar with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery that appears on page 65 of the book: “Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.” This is especially evident in writing. Free-writing is the process of assembling raw material, but careful editing is like sculpture or construction. It is the process of… Continue reading

November 3 2008 | By Art | Tagged: editing, language, student, style, writing | 2 comments»

Be a Comment Rockstar: 10 Terrific Tips!

by libertyandvigilance

“Social media” has numerous definitions, and all of them share the principle that the Internet has given us a lot of cheap ways to communicate with each other. As computers have gotten cheaper and broadband pipes have become fatter, we’ve expanded the multimedia involved: text has been prominent since the BBS glory days, but pictures are up there too, and making your… Continue reading

October 20 2008 | By Torley | Tagged: argument, blog, comment, conversation, humor, idea, media, self-expression, social, social-media | 20 comments»

Why All the Best Marketers Know Each Other

Photo by docpi

First, the title’s meant a touch colloquially. Second, that doesn’t budge the fact there’s a lot of truth to it. Third, if you’re into lifehacks (presumably that’s why you’re reading this blog), particularly marketing ones, I’ll reveal why the best marketers knowing each other matters to you.

There’s no shortage of self-help books that claim to help you get what you want. Some… Continue reading

October 17 2008 | By Torley | Tagged: connected, connection, fame, followup, godin, humor, idea, kawasaki, marketer, marketing, media, meme, Money, social, success | 14 comments»

Determine Intent & Destroy Misunderstanding

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” -Robert J. Hanlon
In the classic 70s sitcom Three’s Company, many punchlines were the result of misunderstanding: whether it was the late John Ritter as chef Jack Tripper being mistaken as a gay man by his landlord, Mr. Roper, or a later landlord named Mr. Furley overhearing innocent talk and mistaking it for sexual innuendo… Continue reading

October 14 2008 | By Torley | Tagged: action, communicator, conversation, discussion, emotion, etiquette, intent, manners, self-control, value | 7 comments»

Deirdre McCloskey on Writing

One of the best books for writers in the social sciences is Deirdre McCloskey’s Economical Writing, a very short, very small book that offers a number of important principles for writing. McCloskey is an economist by training, but she has written across a wide variety of fields. Economical Writing is a must-have and a must-read for any serious writer. Here are five of her points from… Continue reading

October 10 2008 | By Art | Tagged: college, efficiency, persuasion, social-science, student, university, writing | 17 comments»

Just Keep Writing!

I get to write a lot. Fortunately, I like it because it is an important part of my job. I also find that writing helps me organize jumbled messes of thought. Here are notes on writing, which you should do daily no matter your occupation.

1. “Writing is research” (James Buchanan). This is the wisdom of 1986 Nobel Laureate James Buchanan, one of the most prolific

October 1 2008 | By Art | Tagged: language, motivation, research, student, writing | 9 comments»

Break Through Writer’s Block

It’s a simple fact of life if you put enough words on paper: the day will come when you can’t think of any sentence worth the effort to write down. You’ll have the dreaded writer’s block. Symptoms can vary, but the disease itself is simple. You won’t be able to think of anything to write — and anything that you do think of won’t meet your standards. It can… Continue reading

September 30 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: writers block, writing | 15 comments»

4 Useful Tools No Inspirational Blogger Should Be Without

Photo by Steph L.

Tools. We all have ‘em. We all use ‘em — or at least try to. It’s one thing to read a glossy list of “44 hot WordPress plugins!” or “25 ways to look for stock photos”, another thing to actually try them all. The best tools are delved into very deeply, and like Thor and his hammer, can at times be… Continue reading

September 30 2008 | By Torley | Tagged: blogger, compfight, inspiration, popurls, quotation, tool, useful, utility, windows-live-writer | 14 comments»

How to Build Credibility on the Web

There are literally millions of voices on the Internet. Blogs, Social networks, micromessaging services like Twitter, instant messaging services, email, wikis, forums, and dozens of technologies I haven’t even heard of – and dozens more to come – give us all an unprecedented ability to be heard.

But with all those voices clamoring for attention, how do you stand out from the crowd? More importantly, once you get someone’s attention, how… Continue reading

September 22 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: blogging, credibility, internet, self-promotion, twitter, website | 12 comments»

6 Tips on Critiquing Without Melting Down

I had a senior-level writing course when I was in college. The first thing the professor told the class was that if any of us didn’t think we could handle honest critiques of our work, we should leave. Nobody did, of course, but over the course of the semester a few of my classmates wished they had. It wasn’t that the professor went out of his way to be… Continue reading

September 18 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: critique, feedback | 12 comments»

Mastering the Short Email

“I apologize that this letter is so long. I did not have the time to make it short”

— BLAISE PASCAL

Good writers know that lean, vibrant language is almost always preferable to verbose, rambling writing. There is virtually no writing in the world so good that it can’t be made better by making it shorter. There are exceptions, of course – a contract needs to cover every possible potentiality, as… Continue reading

September 17 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, brevity, business, concision, email, writing | 13 comments»

3 Ways To Be Memorable By Breaking People’s Patterns

Life is full of little situations that you encounter regularly. Some people don’t see these for the opportunities that they are: a chance to stand out, be different, and be memorable.

They’re a way to quickly built rapport with someone so they can think back later and say “Brian…hmm, yeah he was the guy who does [BLANK]” or “Barbara, oh yeah she is the gal who said [BLANK]“. You stood out… Continue reading

September 12 2008 | By Brian | Tagged: connections, expectation, greeting, interaction, meet, pattern, people, rapport, surprise | 31 comments»

Handling Mail Overload: The Hard Copy Edition

Checking my mail is part of my daily routine, rain or shine. I’m not talking about all those messages on my computer, either. I’m talking about the paper stuff that the mailman brings by every day but Sunday.

I don’t know about you, but I still get plenty of the paper stuff. I keep wondering why all these catalogs keep showing up in my mailbox when emailing me about new… Continue reading

September 11 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: junk mail, letter, mail | 15 comments»

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