Say it like you mean it

In addition to using the right words and making the best visual presentation of your ideas when they are in writing as possible, it’s also important to speak with conviction. Say it like you know what you are talking about, even if you don’t. A lot of people won’t be able to tell the difference (I present as evidence pretty much every politician).

Last year we studied the Old Testament in Sunday School. Anybody familiar with the Old Testament is also familiar with the fact that it has a lot of names of people and places that might have been real common back then but now nobody knows them any more. When people would read them out loud for class they’d hesitate and stumble and try it again (although one person just skips over any word she doesn’t want to try to pronounce). The thing with those words is, nobody will know if you got it right or wrong if you don’t already plant the seeds of doubt in your inflection. If people just went right on through with confidence everyone else would just think, “Oh, so that’s how you say it.” Which is true in a sense. That is how I say it. But that might not be how the Old Testament person said it. But they aren’t talking so much right now. Which defaults to me being right.

I had a student one semester that frequently answered questions I posed to the class. And she pretty much always got them right. But by her inflection she answered every question I asked with a question of her own. I finally called her on it one day (which just happened to be a day I was being observed) and told her she needed to answer the question again and this time mean it and believe it. It reminded me of the scene in The Rookie where Jimmy Morris has his student do the same thing when answering about the composition of the atom. If you know the answer, why are you asking me? Trust yourself.

I’ve also been in the position where I was speaking to a group about an idea I had and they were asking me questions about how it would work and what the details would be and I was honestly standing there making it up as we went along. Afterwards someone told me how amazed they were that I knew so much. I had to admit to them I’d been making it up. But because I stood tall and didn’t fidget, and didn’t put a questioning inflection on the end of all my sentences, nobody could tell. I promise I will only use my powers for good.

Say it like you mean it. If you’re questioning what you are saying, so will everyone else.