You already possess all the powers you need to communicate and live in all respects more easily and instinctively – more fluently. The ten powers described in this book merely help you to liberate your natural inborn talents. Connect with others, express yourself genuinely, and words become you.
INSIGHT
1 Trust Nothing
Like life itself, ideas seem to arise from nothing, out of nowhere. This “nothing” is your greatest asset – your insight. Learn to trust your mind’s wonderful faculty to sort things out for itself.
PERCEPTION
2 Hear Everything, Know Anything
We communicate and function best when we perceive things just as they are. To get the information you need, engage in genuine conversation, understand your audience, and, above all, remain curious about life. Be confident that anything is knowable.
INTUITION
3 Mind Your Gut
Pursuing subtle gut reactions can reveal critical information and prevent serious errors that might otherwise haunt you later. Learn to pay attention to your sixth sense – your intuition.
SYNTHESIS
4 Simplify to One
To communicate effectively, synthesize your information and identify one simple unifying theme or mission. Simplicity isn’t simplistic, however, but rich in meaning and nuance
CREATIVITY
5 Do Reinvent the Wheel
No matter how often you’ve done the identical project, addressed the same topic, or reasoned with the same person, treat each occasion in life as new and fresh. Creativity keeps your spirit alive.
CLARITY
6 Order Chaos
Writing well gives you an edge whatever your business or work. This chapter offers specific tips on how to organize all the information you’ve collected and express it clearly – how to find order in chaos.
ARTICULATION
7 Start with the End
Don’t wait until the end of a work to articulate your main idea or conclusion. Give people a frame of reference at the beginning so they have a context for the rest of what you say. But handle it with finesse.
CONVICTION
8 Speak Truth
Personal conviction gives meaning and purpose to your communication – and to your whole life. True conviction, however, arises from direct relationship with the world around you. Find your connection.
EMPATHY
9 Write with Your Ears
Hear the voice inside you and realize how others perceive your words. Without compromising your own conviction, empathize with your audience and make your own points more telling.
CONFIDENCE
10 Trust Yourself
Living naturally and fluidly, open and responsive to the world around you, you gain confidence and peace of mind in continuously experiencing, creating, connecting – and living. Trust yourself and words become you. You become you.
