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562. Say Less, Mean More: The Influence of Focused Language · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
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• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody Brian Smith here with the I'm team series and your daily influence and today I'm going to be talking about well it's a term that Renee and I got from our son and he often times would say to us say less.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: and we've kind of picked it up but you know I've been thinking about how I might apply the thought of saying less to turning it into a focus or an influence of focused language or focused communications and have you ever asked yourself am I speaking to be heard or am I speaking to be understood
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And today I want to explore how using fewer sharper and I don't mean meaner but sharper more clear words can strengthen your influence and still stay aligned with being what we hope everyone is being which is positive, responsible, and part of that as you will
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: here of Aber is being smart.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so the first difficulty in saying less when you're trying to communicate in specificity is trying to do that without overload, without losing the people who are listening to you.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, smart communication dictates that were specific, that we include measurement in our communication, that what we're saying or asking for is attainable
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: and we're doing it at the right time.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot to think about, but being specific, how do you do that without becoming too worthy?
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I try to practice it right here with the daily influence, trying to all climb and bring you podcasts that are quick into the point that take up as little of your time with as much value as we can.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I have to ask myself and
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: for someone to act or understand what I'm trying to say, what I'm trying to convey to them.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: An example might be, instead of we should work on improving communications to help meet deadlines, we could say, what's hold a 10 minute daily check-in to align on deadlines.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not a lot less, but it is more to the point it does add the measurement.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's relevant to what we're trying to do.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we practice these communication elements, these say less moments, we become better at it, our mind becomes more in tune with, well, say less being more direct and allowing people to understand what it is we're trying to say in a much more efficient way, not just for us, but for them, too.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, when we're trying to communicate with people,
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to be empathetic, you have to understand their time.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: What they're investing in the communication with you and have some regard for that and some respect for their time.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Measureable impact of words also, you know, measurements not always about a number.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's about how important it is, is this the right time.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, words should move people toward clarity, action, or connection.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we're having a smart conversation, I'm hoping that I'm being clear, but I'm also moving them towards something, some type of action.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: The action might be more conversation, it might be more strategy, it might be tactical development, but we're moving them towards that, or it's moving them towards a connection that we might have together.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, that connection is going to
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: before clarity or for action of something in the future, and you can ask another question of yourself as you're having conversations or actually preparing for those conversations.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what I'm talking about reduce confusion for creating it.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes when we're communicating and we're talking about things that we know in our own head, we can get ahead of our
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Too far out in front because the people we're talking to don't have the same contextual understanding oftentimes that we do in our own mind.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: So one of the things you can do is think about measurable influence, think about focused language that gets that foundation bill, get it in their quicker.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ask some questions about if there's gaps in their understanding of the topic, gaps in their understanding of anything that you're about to be communicating about, and that way you'll have faster alignment, and you'll get stronger follow-throughs, you'll get better back and forth, and you will have fewer repeated conversations and less gaps that occur once the conversations are over.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: ensuring that our conversations are timely and relevant and that they're expressed in that way.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: So influence often depends on saying the right thing at the right time.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know most of you I know I have picked the wrong time to challenge Renee or my children or a colleague with an issue.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: really situationally aware of where they were in a moment and I bring them something or want to discuss something that they're just not ready for.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you can start off with really simple things like, is one I'm about to say relevant right now, or am I adding noise?
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or is it a bad time for you to get into this topic?
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when would be the best time?
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look, questions?
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: in a conversation can get clarity.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Questions in a conversation can
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: get to the point faster and they can allow for us to be smart across the board and we can ask about gaps along the way so that people give us feedback and help us to communicate better with them.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's part of the smart communication cycle and focus language respects others.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It respects their time and it ensures that our words land with purpose and our on point with what we're trying to get through at that moment.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So look, as you go about your day, challenge yourself.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can I?
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: say this with less words without losing the context or meaning that I'm trying to get across or that I'm trying to understand because influence isn't about volume, it's about clarity and when we say less but mean more, we strengthen our influence and build trust through purposeful communications.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you've enjoyed today's daily influence.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you'll join us again in our next episode