Have you every struggled with a section of a speech? Maybe one of your stories isn’t quite making the point you want it to, your analogy feels tired or labored or you can’t figure out a clean, logical transition between points.
I can’t tell you how many times it has happened to me. I rewrite, rewrite and rewrite, but I just don’t seem to get any closer to a solution.
Actually, that’s not true. I usually do eventually discover the solution to my problem. And ninety percent of the time, it’s that magic button on the top right of my keyboard, the one that says, “Delete”.
That nagging feeling you have that something isn’t working is often your lizard brain telling you that what you are trying to do just isn’t necessary. You’re not finding a good solution because there isn’t one. The point you are trying to make is the problem.
Of course, that isn’t always true, but it is something to consider. The quickest way of solving a problem is sometimes not to fix it, but to just get rid of it.
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Excellent! You reminded me that Bob Seger said it in the last verse of the song “Against the Wind”:
“Well those drifter’s days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out”
Richard
Whoa. That’s a blast from the past. I feel like I’m back at Washington State University in the rolling hills of eastern Washington. I guess I’m about the age now that Bob was when he sang that.
This happens to me all the time. I can sit for hours and hours trying to figure out what the problem and why the speech isn’t flowing. I stare at paper trying to see what is wrong and then realize all i needed was the “Magic Button,” and everything is better. I didn’t know i was the only person that felt like this.