Hi, pleased to meet you, and delighted to have you on here.
In case you haven’t seen the formal ‘bio’ bit on the web site, and even if you have, this first journal entry is really to say ‘hi, thanks for dropping by, and welcome!’
So, what do I plan to do here? Why write a journal?
I think of this as a creative space, to jot down ideas and thoughts connected to strategic communication, public speaking, personal development and coaching, pitching, ideas, storytelling, words… all the stuff I do and work with, all the things I help other people to do better or make sense of.
You may have heard the one-liner ‘it’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it’. Well… I don’t actually think that’s true.
Good content, original ideas, and clear information are all as important as the way in which they are expressed. What is true, however, is that many a good idea has been undervalued, or even lost, due to poor communication.
What you say is important, but how you say it determines whether it will be remembered.
Just for the record, and to be completely transparent, I have re-written this post about 5 times. I have already written several new posts, on other topics, that will come along after this one. But this first entry? It is tripping me up every time I sit down and put fingers to keyboard. It sounds too formal, or too, well just icky, and doesn’t quite sit right with me, but I can’t say I am surprised. It’s those first words that are all-important. The stakes feel high, the pressure is on, and we can’t feel sure things will come out how we mean them too. This is how things feel when we introduce ourselves, kick off a big presentation, pitch an idea or sell our skills in a job interview. But more about that later.
Let’s see where this takes us…