Say It Like You Mean It

Whenever you explain what you do, the product you sell, or the service you offer, do you nearly recite something you've said a hundred times, or do you speak from the heart?

Several months ago, I was pondering the fact that the main complaint of old age seems to be memory problems. I work out pretty much every day for my physical strength and health, but, I thought to ask myself on that occasion, what am I doing for the health of my memory? We adults hardly ever memorize anything like we did when we were in school. Somebody starts to give you a phone number, and you go, "No, no, no, text it to me!"

So I decided to start memorizing passages from Shakespeare. I could have done Miley Cyrus lyrics, or committed to memory the evening's tv schedule - anything would have helped exercise my powers of recall, I suppose. But I chose Shakespeare, because I thought: Maybe I'll be filling my head with things that will also help me think more deeply about life. 

And I was right. My first two passages came from Hamlet - first, the "What a piece of work is a man" passage (about a hundred words in Act Two, Scene Two), then the "To be or not to be" soliloquy (more than two hundred words in Act Three, Scene One), and then the famous "Saint Crispin's Day Speech" from Henry V (over four hundred words in Act Four, Scenes Three through Five). That was really a challenge. Now I'm doing, "All the World's a stage," (From As You Like It (Act Two, Scene Seven).  It's been a lot harder than I thought. But I've soldiered on, as King Henry would have wanted me to. And the results have been immensely enriching.

After working on each passage, and living with it, and trying to get the inflections and the emotions behind what was being said, I started watching famous actors do these passages on YouTube. The videos are easy to find. And I noticed something unexpected. I was surprised, now and then, to see a famous actor just going through the motions, "reciting" the lines he had memorized, and not speaking from the heart, not "feeling it," not owning the words as his own.

It's a truly great actor who can say it like he means it. And what I've noticed is that, when someone does that effectively, it connects with me at a different level. I really feel what he's saying. It goes deep.

And it occurred to me that this is probably what happens when we speak to others from the heart, authentically, and with genuineness. We connect at a deeper level.

Isn't that what we want in business and life? Not superficially going through the motions, but  doing whatever we do from the heart, with soul, and with lasting results for others.

So, the next time you go to speak to a client about anything important, or a family member about something vital - whatever you have to say - say it like you mean it, and give yourself the chance to really connect.

Does this connect with you? Comment here or email me. To Comment or Not To Comment isn't even a question.