Top 7 Keys To Persuasive Writing

One major reason we write anything is not only to inform, to entertain, to share, to express, to sell, to lead, to teach, to communicate - but also TO PERSUADE. Here are 7 tips based on what I have noticed over the years in what I believe is persuasive writing.

1. Start by identifying the inner needs - especially the emotional inner needs - of your audience.
We persuade when we connect with emotions. Maybe you're topic is gardening, for example. Think about why people garden. What are the emotional needs that gardening fulfills? Is it for a sense of beauty, or working with your hands, or creating something from nature? Whatever it is, identify it in your writing.

2. Ask a lead-off question.
Make it a question about your topic that will focus your audience's attention, interest, and motivation. Let's say, for example, you want to persuade your audience to learn more about classical music. You might start by asking, "Would you like to learn how classical music can help you become more successful in your work?" (Not that I know the answer to this, but it's an example of how to get your audience's attention.)

3. State what will happen to your audience if they do what you want to persuade them to do.
What will be the consequences? "It is a known fact that the people who increase their income are usually the ones who take the time to increase their vocabulary." This can also work negatively: "People who ignore their vocabulary generally do not make as much money as those who do."

4. Give step-by-step, brief, specific instructions that your audience can do easily in their everyday lives.
Give 3 to 5 steps, and write them as bullet points.

5. Predict how your audience should begin to feel if they do what is recommended.
Paint a word-picture of how they will look, what they will feel like, how their lives will be different if they do what you are suggesting.

6. Give a specific example.
Tell a brief story - either from your own experience or from a documented, well-known situation - that illustrates how your solution solves the problem and achieves the goal.

7. End with a good quote, one that is powerful and that will tell the story you want to tell.

7 Easy Ways To Instantly Improve Your Public Speaking

I'm a professional psychologist, a member of Rotary, a book author (on achievement motivation), a resume writer and career coach, and someone who has heard an endless number of professional and non-professional speakers for over 30 years. I've seen how it's the little things that make a big difference. Here are 7 "little things" you can do that will instantly improve your public speaking dramatically.

1. TALK TWICE AS SLOW. Most speakers (even professional ones) talk too fast. Have you ever listened carefully to professional speakers on TV? They talk slower than in normal conversational speech. Slow down. Take your time. Don't rush through individual words. Linger on them. It may feel unnatural, but just listen to a tape recording of yourself. It will undoubtedly sound a lot better.

2. TALK TWICE AS LOUD. Most speakers talk too softly. Speak up. It may seem to you that you are screaming, but (again) a tape recording will prove that it sounds fine.

3. ENUNCIATE THE CONSONANT SOUNDS CLEARLY. When we listen, we hear clearly because of the consonant sounds (the "hard" sounds - sss, t, d, p, m, and so forth), not the vowels (a, e, i, o, and u). Pay attention to those hard sounds. Make sure they are clear and distinct. Exaggerate them.

4. USE SHORT SENTENCES. You may like speaking in long, long sentences, but your audience doesn't. Break up your ideas into short sentences. "Once idea per sentence" is as good a rule for speaking as it is for writing.

5. PAUSE OFTEN. Forget the ummmms and the aaahhhhs. Dead silence for a few seconds may seem like an eternity to you, but an audience doesn't mind it at all. Take your time. Pausing creates interest and anticipation.

6. ORGANIZE YOUR TALK AROUND 3 TO 5 BULLET POINTS. No matter what you may think of off-the-cuff speeches and how entertaining they may be, nobody likes rambling on and on. Whatever you have to say, put it in the form of 3 to 5 bullet points. You'll make listeners out of your audience.

7. SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST. What is the most important, the most dramatic, the most impactful thing you have to say in your talk? Figure out what it is, and PUT IT LAST. That's the most effective way to end a talk.

7 Steps To Reduce Your Biggest Worry Today

There is not a human being who has no worries. Some of our worries are small, and some are big. But every day, there is usually one worry that bothers us through the day. The problem is that we often do nothing about it. Yet if we were to do something (even taking a minor action), it would reduce the worry considerably. Here is a 7-point, step-by-step method to reduce or eliminate your major worry today.

1. Write it down. Don't just let the worry rattle around in your brain; get it down on paper. And make it specific. No matter how big or small it may seem to others, what - specifically - is your biggest worry today?
2. Make a list of 3 to 10 specific, practical actions in the real world that you could take to do something about it? Now, pick one of those steps that you could actually do today, and write it down.
3. Take a nice comfortable breath, like an ordinary, everyday sigh. Pay careful attention to the relaxation it creates. Now focus that attention completely on that one action step you just wrote down.
4. Give yourself a positive self-pep-talk. Tell yourself that you will succeed in solving this problem and achieving your goals. It doesn't matter whether or not you believe it, just say it.
5. Create a picture in your mind's eye of yourself performing that action. See yourself doing it. What does it look like when you perform that action? What does it feel like?
6. Now, visualize what will happen when you complete the action step. See yourself having accomplished it. Notice what it feels like to have accomplish it. Notice how accomplishing that action step impacts your worry and reduces or eliminates it. Get that picture in your mind's eye.
7. Now, do it. Perform the action now or as soon as possible. This has to be your #1 priority today. It is only when you actually do something tangible about a worry that it ceases to be as big a worry. Let's just say that you're taking what was experienced as a crisis and turning it into a solvable problem that you can do something about.

5 different managerial personality styles—the upsides and downsides of each.

The General – If you’re a General, you’ve got the most traditional management style there is. An office is like the military, and you are the senior officer in charge. You are the General Patton of the business world. You are in charge of everything. You are a complete and thorough autocrat. Your word goes. If anyone doesn’t do what you want them to do, or if they disagree with you, they’re gone. That’s because you know better than anyone else. Compared to you, Nero was a pushover. The upside is that things get done the way you want them done, and you are respected for your competence and achievements. The downsides? First of all, nobody likes you. There are also problems of staff morale, loyalty, and fear of you (which can inhibit performance). But perhaps the worst downside (and you won’t like reading this) is that because you won’t tolerate arguments, you also won’t get realistic feedback of things you need to know.

The Bureaucrat – Congratulations; you are one of the most popular types of managers there is. You go by the book. To you, if it isn’t written down in a procedures manual somewhere, it doesn’t exist. Your entire focus is rules of procedures, standard procedures, paperwork (or its modern computer equivalent), and traditional ways of doing things. You evaluate everything and everyone by whether the proper procedures were followed. Upside? Stability, clear expectations, and everyone knows what to expect. Downsides? You guessed it: No room for creativity, flexibility, or response to needs for change. And, most important of all, you consider procedures as more important than results.

The Sidekick – You are everyone’s pal, everyone’s best friend. Your concept of “team building is to have staff parties and other social events. You think that if you maintain good relationships with everyone and if they like you, then they’ll do their job. You hate conflict and disagreement, and you’ll do anything you can to smooth over the arguments and differences of opinion. You’re goal is to build a cohesive team of people who all appreciate each other. The upsides include good office communication, positive working relationships, and togetherness. One downside is that behind your back everyone thinks that you are weak and that you don’t take charge. And if there is something that has to get done that requires you to give a direct order, you can’t do it, because you think that you can’t give an order unless everyone likes it.

The Promoter – You are a salesperson, missionary, and motivational speaker all rolled into one. You are convinced that if you can “sell” everyone on what they need to do, if you can give them a sense of mission and importance about the job, if you can get them to really “believe,” then they’ll do the job. And you are the chief cheerleader. Upside? Enthusiasm for the job? You bet. Downsides? How about the fact that you are a manager and that those who report to you are hired to listen to you and do what is expected. Nobody has an employment contract that says, “If you aren’t enthusiastic about the job, we don’t expect you to have to do it.”

The Expert – You know the details of your job and everyone else’s. Everyone calls you “Doc.” You assume that people will listen to you as a manager not because the company says that you’re in charge, but only because you know what you’re doing. To you, being a “manager” is just bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo and game-playing. “Real” authority comes from knowing your profession. Upside? You will be respected and followed for your competence and your respect for others’ competencies. Downside? Sometimes people are required to listen to you because you’re the boss, not because of your technical knowledge. Otherwise, if they disagreed with your technical knowledge or have a different solution, they don’t have to listen to you.

If any one of these describes your personality on the job, you ought to keep in mind the upsides as well as the downsides. Also, realize that it is possible to adopt one of these styles in one situation and another style in a different situation where it is the most appropriate.