You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
– Oh, The Places You’ll Go
Dr. Seuss
If you’ve ever read Dr. Seuss you’ll already understand the power of language as a tool to create mental pictures, evoke and stir emotions, trigger memories, motivate action or simply entertain. Words, and more generally language, are a defining feature of humanity. In business or personal life, we are storytellers, where packed into each word are reasons to believe. For example, take the very thing you’re doing now, reading these words. In addition to you reading, your brain is working to determine whether our words are credible, believable and whether they are consistent with information you already know to be true. If these, and a number of other factors align, the “brains in your head’ (thanks Dr. Seuss!) will trigger a feeling, which may then turn into action. It’s the exact same process for someone reading you work. Not only is their rational brain reading the ‘facts’, but there is another part of their brain looking out for bullshit things that don’t feel right.
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads and breaking-neck pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward the most useless place.
You’ll get mixed up, of course,
As you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
– Oh, The Places You’ll Go
Dr. Seuss