The One Difference in Communicating

Share that one thing you’ve been thinking or wanting to share — and share it. You just never know how your ideas and words may land and resonate with others. Image Source.

You have an idea when it comes to your professional expertise.

It’s a thought you’ve been sitting on it for a while and haven’t yet shared, because well… you’re not sure why.

You’re not sure if you should so boldly come out and say what you’re thinking with this idea. You’re afraid of what others may think. You question whether you should ‘own’ the idea — put your neck out on the line. What if your sector or industry reacts negatively? How will your employer respond? Could you be fired?

Your mind has raced many times over.

You’ve wasted more time thinking about the consequences of what could happen if you share the idea… then the actual time it took to come up with this mind-blowing idea that could change your sector.. and for the good.

You happen to be scrolling through Twitter one Thursday morning, on an overcast snowy morning, while enjoying your cup of black coffee at 10am.

And BOOM.

You read a tweet that you’ve been dreading.

Someone else has shared your idea.. not because you told them… but because they thought must have thought about the same idea too.

And they shared it out loud 😲

For the public to read, to consume, to be shared… and they’ve received the credit.

The tweet in particular has been retweeted thousands of times — people are raving about this tweet; it’s being shared by journalists and media outlets; the idea appears to be THE next big thing.

You can feel your face begin to flush as it turns to a boil. “WTF?” you think to yourself.

HOW did this happen. How did someone else come up with the exact same idea as you… and say it before you did?

That’s how communication works.

Someone is most likely already thinking about the same idea or thought as you.

I always think about that — of how many people thought of say, sliced bread, before American Otto Rohwedder did. Or the stories I’ve read, of how the Wright Brothers may not have been the first to think of flying an aircraft in the air, yet they are credited with flying the world’s first successful airplane and will forever be known as the first to fly.

The difference between The Wright Brothers and everyone else?

The difference between you and that person whose tweet and idea is going to be the next big thing?

They had the guts to do it — to say it.

Because that truly is the one major difference in communicating.

The ones that have the guts to say something we’re all feeling, or share an idea that has never perhaps been shared before — they are the ones that get the credit because they’ve communicated it.

You can think it.

That’s not communicating.

You say it out loud and share the idea with others.

That’s communicating.

It’s why I decided last fall to take Kaleigh Moore’s advice and “Get out of my head + get onto the page” and start my newsletter.

There’s no point in thinking and writing — if you’re simply sitting on your ideas, collecting dust and not putting yourself out there for the world to potentially be discovered. It’s a waste of time, energy and talent.

You just never know how your ideas and words may land and resonate with others. It’s why you’re reading this article (thanks for stopping by and sticking until the end 👋)

I challenge you today to share that one thing you’ve been thinking or wanting to share — and share it. This is your sign… before someone else says it out loud and gets to take the credit 😉