The “Before you Speak Think” acronym explained.
They aren’t just initials for effective communication: it is a pebble you can wrap with yellow tinfoil and sell as a golden nugget.
We all look for answers.
We all look for solutions to what we define as problems.
We all look for the Holy Grail.
We all look for the magic stick which would turn us into the mightiest, happiest, most beautiful and wealthiest being in the whole Universe.
There’s no such thing. We can only skim through billions of words to find the ones that resonate with ours. The same words make us shout out: “Hey this is true!”.
Although it’s just our truth, our opinion, our world of “The Ten Thousand Experiences” which we try to sell to others because we really believe in it. The Truman show film set.
It’s along our Hero’s Journey that sooner or later we bump into the “Before you speak think” acronym, yes, the one with the WOW effect in it.
Another providential precept to adopt to make our life extraordinary!
So this THINK acronym isn’t just a bunch of initials for honest and constructive communication.
Someone someday will explain to me whether the umpteenth method works or not.
Then I browsed a couple of hundreds of web pages just to find that the power of the Collective Mind (Conditioned Mind) which produces multitudinous ideas every millisecond is immense, boundless but not inevitable.
This is what the Collective Mind does: it creates zillion of thoughts that suddenly stick to our mind like a chewing gum crushed underfoot.
Allow me to stray from the subject for a while. Actually, it helps to focus on the main subject.
Most of the time we aren’t aware that bubble gum is pasted under our soles, so we walk for miles blissfully unconscious of the bomb we crushed.
That’s how thoughts work. The irony lies in the fact that we are absolutely certain that all thoughts arise “inside” or “from” our minds. We cannot be 100% sure regardless.
A thought can be there, dozing in our mind since the day we got it ten years ago, the same way one gets flu inside an overcrowded cafe on a freezing winter day. While absent-mindedly we are sipping our coffee somebody leaning on us is loudly babbling meaningless words and … ACHOO!
The day after, in bed, 38°C fever!
Thought transmission carried out!
Let’s debunk the “THINK before you speak” myth!
T stands for: is it TRUE or is it your viewpoint?
Sorry, where’s the difference? I already explained that. How can one answer such a question? Unless you are writing about facts and figures, then I agree with you if you take your time to determine whether the source is a fake or not and if a fact is an occurrence in the real world and it really took place. But if you are writing a speech or an article where your opinions are your weapons against a competitor or another candidate how can you ask yourself: “Hey, are you writing the truth or just deceiving with your audience just to get more votes or attract more visitors to your website?”
1 ⭐ - Question badly built.
H stands for: is it HELPFUL?
Are you writing a speech or an article scattering futile concepts? Great, you’re on your way to personal failure as a public speaker or a writer.
I’ve questioned what type of question this is. Then after having expanded my knowledge of human beings, their behaviours and mindset, I had to admit that millions of them make use of useless words. Consequently, they should think before speaking meditating whether their words are beneficial to reach their goal.
By and large speakers, bloggers, web writers and everybody who use communication professionally* should read over and over again their work and try to cancel at least 20% of words. The goals are:
- be more concise
- be more comprehensible
- use fewer verbose sentences
- use fewer adverbs and redundancies
- use the art of rhetoric sparingly
*The THINK acronym applies to everybody not only to those who use means of communication professionally.
1 ⭐ - Question badly built even if millions speak without thinking.
I stand for: is it INSPIRING?
Are you writing or speaking to inspire people or your goal is to tell them a lullaby? How do you know whether your writing is inspiring or not? Maybe you could send it to a professional storyteller, to a best-selling author or an expert copywriter. Please don’t show it to your best friend though s/he owns a BA in Literature. Professional writers or keynote speakers think differently, see things from other viewpoints, they are trained to engage the audience. That’s why if you’re not a PRO don’t just “THINK before you speak” but THINK like a PRO and if can’t, you’d better stay silent. It works more than talking nonsense.
2 ⭐ - Question badly built but you can make it. At least it’s not nonsense.
N stands for: is it NECESSARY?
Let us not forget the quote:
“Think before you speak” so that the appropriate question should be “Is it necessary to speak?” and not “Is it necessary to think before speaking?”
Naturally because to think before speaking is as obvious as breathing out after breathing in. We also must remember that speaking without thinking is impossible because words or rather, language is an expression.
Is it necessary to speak? I suppose it’s not. Lao Tzu is certainly a great admirer of silence, in fact, he wrote:
“Silence is a source of great strength.”
I happened to reply with silence to a customer who asked me a question which answer was so blatant that drove me to keep my mouth shut and stare at his eyes waiting for his next move. I’ve had a clear perception it was the right attitude during that meeting which ended with a considerably important job order.
Hence yes, speaking isn’t always necessary, silence is often required and beneficial, mostly when we lack all essential information or when we wouldn’t have anything to add to the conversation which wouldn’t be remarkably interesting for the audience or the entourage.
5⭐ - Perhaps the only smart question.
K stands for: is it KIND?
Kindness is often regarded as a weakness in certain cultures or work environments. Mostly among males.
Conversely, some countries require a fair amount of kindness in both social interactions and the business world. Abiding by the social rules and traditions is also highly requested like in Japan.
Can we state that therefore kindness isn’t always necessary while communicating professionally or even on a personal level?
If there are different shades of kindness and habits in this ever-changing world we also should accept that basic rules of kindness are relevant in every situation. Instead, they are fundamental when travelling to countries where traditions are still vital when it comes to social relations and business meetings.
In social interaction, one thing I’m sure makes an enormous difference: remembering that the most important person in the world is the one just in front of you.
Therefore we have to bear in mind that every human being holds a weak link inside themselves, a special place which we must protect and never harm no matter what the communication is about. Maybe that person is going through something stressful or s/he has just received disturbing news.
That is why we need to calibrate our tone of voice, the words we use, the subject we’re going to talk about and so forth. All this advice also include the possibility that our audience would better accept our message from somebody else.
Having said that, kindness isn’t an option in every circumstance of social life; its lack has already proven devastating in every era, country and culture.
2 ⭐ - Unnecessary question but better stress its importance once more.
Ultimately the word THINK includes 5 pieces of advice among which only 1 holds a bit of sense if we use it in the correct context: the N acronym: Is it necessary?
Hold on a second. We need to ask ourselves this question only in relation to what we are saying or writing. Actually, the question is lame, it lacks something more explicit to be really “Helpful”, that is: “Is it necessary to what I am saying or writing?”
“Does it add more value to my words or my content?”
“Does it make my speech or paragraph more useful or understandable?”
“Conclusively, does a couple of more rows or a witty remark make my speech or article worth the time of my audience?”
Au contraire, just give it the chop! Delete it from your speech or article. Farewell. Adios. Auf wiedersehen. “Hasta la vista, baby.”
I hope you noticed that each initial of the THINK acronym doesn’t have to be used mindlessly: every acronym wants you to deepen the subject, it takes you hand in hand to the “Ask-More-Questions-Hill” than just giving a questionable answer like: “Yes, it is true, so I can say it or write it down.”
You need to be a Sherlock Holmes impersonator. Don’t take everything for granted.
I write about Mindful Marketing (which actually doesn’t exist as such, but this is how people started to name ‘it’), Brand Positioning, Social Media Marketing and Mindfulness.
It would be great if you would follow me on www.marinobaccarini.com and leave comments on my posts.
