Hi Friend,
We are divided about so many different things, but there is one thing we can all agree on:
Our attention spans are like swiss cheese these days.
Even when we are focused on something we care about (a book, a tv show, a podcast, a conversation) we often find ourselves toggling between checking texts, emails, and scrolling and scrolling and clicking and clicking.
This sets up a terrible dilemma for communicators. How are we supposed to make meaningful contact with an audience (or even a single person) when their attention spans have been shredded by cheap dopamine hits in the form of likes?
If there was just ONE communication hack I wish everyone knew, it is this:
The only way to connect with audiences is by offering something urgent. Something wonderful. Something surprising. Something DEEPLY helpful.
And the only way to access those somethings is by tapping into your creativity and your empathy for that audience.
Looking at a computer screen is not usually the best way to tap into your creativity and empathy for an audience. Sitting at a computer might be okay for analytical work, but not for creative thinking.
You know what activities are GREAT for tapping into creativity and empathy?
- Walking
- Taking a shower
- Sitting/swimming in water
- Driving on a freeway (if there’s no stop-and-go traffic)
- Sitting quietly with your eyes closed, imagining the lives of the people with whom you need to connect.
(If you want to go a little deeper into the why of this, I loved this article from Headspace.)
Your thought experiment this week is to see if your best creative work is actually done in the shower. On a walk. Or in that jacuzzi at the gym.
Think about a conversation you need to have or presentation you need to give. Instead of firing up that laptop to work on it, take it on your walk and see what happens. I’d be willing to bet that you come up with the perfect narrative arc. The perfect opener. The sublime close.
With the rise of AI, our creativity and empathy may be all we have going for us. It’s time to cultivate those capacities as if our futures depend on them.
Because I’m pretty sure they do.
Shine on,
B
