It’s the one skill which skyrockets our success in every situation. In five words: It can transform your life. We look for “writing tips” or “speaking tips” or “how-tos” to become a master communicator. Yet, we can practice for months, and still, know we’re not “great”, but have no idea what separates us from a genius.

COMMUNICATION. A MASTER LEVEL.

In this article, we explore, in under 5 minutes, strategies every speaking person should know. I’ve analyzed the most successful authors, speakers, and presenters, and found they all apply 3 simple strategies:

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS.

Greatness is distilled to core essence – it gives a person what they need – nothing more. We rarely understand why we do what we do, or the “x factor” which makes something work. People have short attention spans. If they must put in tremendous effort to process something most will leave. This doesn’t mean what we communicate can’t be 4,000 words. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is 257,045 words and sold 11,000,000 copies in 24 hours. How do we create communication which captures everyone’s attention?

NOT WHAT WE SAY. HOW WE SAY IT.

Brilliant communication focuses on what’s said. We know exactly what our audience wants, and throw away everything they don’t. To do this, we search for: Here is an example from actor Kiefer Sutherland: Save time, effort, and make it great…

IMPROVEMENT. BY THE NUMBERS.

We went from 85 to 55 words – a 36% improvement – while removing none of the message, wasting less time, and giving the reader a better experience. In a 2,500 word article or video, that’s 900 words. Based on the average read speed of 200 wpm, that’s nearly 5 minutes of a 12-minute article, which can be trimmed to 7 minutes by removing unnecessary text. Do we want to spend 30 minutes learning something we can learn in 15? When we focus on creating engaging communication: In 4 words: GIVE ME THE MEAT.

A MASTERPIECE. ANYWHERE.

Ask yourself: With practice, our brain gains intuition, and we become a master communicator automatically. Take any piece of communication – see how efficient you can make it. Want to be the best? Commit to doing everything to deliver a brilliant experience. Practice this skill over and over – it will transform your success in every area more than any other technique. Small details make the difference between good and great – whatever you do, make it great.