Think Like A Genius, Talk Like A Third Grader Pt 2

Think Like a Genius, Talk Like a Third Grader

Hey there on our last video, we started teaching on “Think Like a Genius, Talk Like a Third Grader,” and we got through the think like a genius part.

So when I was creating the outline, clearly I was not thinking like a genius. Anyway, so we’re gonna finish that today because the more clearly you can think, and the more clearly you speak, the better you’ll be at impacting the lives of the people you’ve been sent to serve. So hopefully, that video gave you some clarity.

We ended up talking at the end of that video about Mastery stacking and the importance of Mastery stacking. It’s so interesting, how, first of all, did you know that your brain uses more energy than any other organ in your body?

Mastery Stacking and the Importance of Learning

Like when you’re thinking, maybe that’s why thinking is the hardest work most people never do because it requires so much energy to think, right? And so, I was talking about the importance of Mastery stacking and how if you want to become one of the best of the best in a category, you have to master one component at a time.

And then once you master that one component, you master another component, you stack a Mastery on top of a Mastery, and then master another component, stack that because what happens is people who are great at things, they’re great at those things because they can do a lot of things that all of us can tell are very complex, and they can do them all simultaneously and seemingly effortlessly. How many all know what I’m talking about, right?

And so the reason they can do that is because they took one of those difficult components at a time and they mastered it. See, most people make the mistake of thinking that learning about something is the same as learning it. It’s not. Learning about something is exactly that – learning about something. So you read a book about something, and you learned about it, and you think you’ve learned it. And then when you go attempt to iterate it, like you’re using a lot of mental bandwidth trying to say, “Okay, which part was I supposed to do first?” And so your brain’s doing all these mental Jumping Jacks, and you’re not coming to the conclusion because you haven’t mastered it.

So you’re using too many conscious resources to attempt to find answers that if you had mastered it, they would already be in you. They would be in the mind that is you, not just in your brain mind, but in the mind of your fingers and in the mind of your movements. You would just own it. It would become a part of you. You would become, as Dr. Ron would say, you become one with them. And so Mastery is the ability to execute effortlessly without.

Mastery of Skills That Matter

use of a conscious resources all of us have mastered things in our lives, but the challenge is we’ve only mastered things that don’t really matter that much. Like we’ve all mastered tying our shoes, right? We don’t have to think about it. You can have a conversation with somebody, look away, listen to music, and tie your shoes at the same time. Why? Because you’ve mastered it.

Now, what most people are not as intentional about is mastering things that would make their lives better, as they were about mastering tying their shoes. When they learned to tie their shoes, they were like, “Mommy, teach me how to tie my shoe,” and then they would practice and they would practice and they would practice and they would practice until eventually you can tie your shoe effortlessly.

That seems like an oversimplification, but it’s not because the same thing happened when you learned how to ride a bike. Learning how to ride a bike felt impossible when you first started learning. Like, I don’t know how they do it today, but when I was a kid, they had training wheels on bikes. Do they still have training wheels? Okay, so training wheels. And then what my parents would do, they would take off one training wheel and let you ride your bike for a while with only one training wheel. And then they would take off the other training wheel, and then eventually you could ride your bike. And then because you had mastered riding the bike and it became a part of you, eventually you could ride your bike with no hands. How many remember riding your bike with no hands, right? You ride your bike with no hands; you could turn with no hands.

But what happened? You mastered the components, and the bike started to become one with you. What happens when all of the skill sets that are necessary for you to run your business or build your business empire or build your ministry or build your mission, whatever the thing is you’re here for? What happens when you master all of the…

Mastering Skills One at a Time: Driving a Stick Shift

Components of that one at a time, like you mastered tying your shoes and riding a bike. I remember when I first learned how to drive a stick shift. When I first learned how to drive a stick shift, the stick shift I learned how to drive was not a four on the floor; it was a three on the column, right?

So, you know, you push the clutch and you put it in first gear, and then you drive as fast as you can, get it up to 20 miles an hour or whatever, 15, and then you push the clutch in, you put it up to second gear, and then you go up to 35, 40 miles an hour, you push the clutch, you pull it down to third gear. And it required so much conscious effort to do that. But you know what I had to learn how to do before I learned how to drive a stick shift? I had to learn how to drive a car. I had to learn how to drive an automatic shift. I didn’t have to, but that’s how I did it. Learned how to drive an automatic transmission before I learned how to drive a stick. Why? Because like you have to alert you…

Mastery Leads to Effortless Work

You have to learn how to pay attention to traffic patterns, you have to pay attention to how fast you’re going, and make sure you know how much gas is in the car. See who’s on this side and who’s on that side, who’s behind you, and how far is it clear? All of that. We don’t think about any of that stuff now; we just get in the car and go, right?

So when you learn as an entrepreneur how to sell at the level where it doesn’t require your conscious resources, it’s just become one with you. And you learn how to write a marketing campaign, and a sales letter, and an ad, and you’ve internalized it so that it becomes a part of you. Now, business doesn’t feel hard. It doesn’t make you sweat. Business feels like play for me. I know it’s going to sound crazy, and I’m not saying I’ve mastered business, but I’ve mastered some of the components of business. And to me, work feels like play. Work feels like play when you master things; work feels like play, and you don’t have to do as much of it.

Mastery Yields Greater Efficiency

to get a big outcome, it takes less input when you’re a master to get multiplied output. When you’re an amateur, it takes multiplied input to get a minimized output. But when you become a master, you can literally get a multiplied output from a minimized input. And that’s where we ask, “Why not work towards the day when you’re so good at what you do it requires less effort and energy from you than it does from other people who think they’re your competition?” Are y’all picking up what I’m putting down?

So we talked about in “Think Like a Genius,” you have to expose yourself to new concepts. This is a review. So how do you do that? You do that by discerning. You read, you listen, and you observe. Then you decipher, you contemplate, you question, and you answer. And by the way, it’s very important for you, everybody type your chest cell phone, just say me. It’s very important for you to question every conclusion you come to and examine it compared to truth. Don’t make the mistake…

The Importance of Truth and Deciphering

that so many people believe, do make in thinking they… What most people do is they believe the things they think are true because they think them, instead of thinking them because they discovered that they are true. Right? Let the truth be the foundation and not your thoughts, not your feelings, not how you’re going to be perceived, but just let the truth be what it is and let that guide you.

One of my favorite books is “A Million Dollar Habits” by Robert J. Ringer. I don’t know if any of you’ve ever read that book, but the first Habit in “Million Dollar Habits” is the reality habit. And the reality habit is this: you just decide that you are going to do what the truth tells you to do and go where the truth leads you. And you’re not gonna be delusional. Anybody who believes something is true that goes against truth is delusional. It’s really a remarkable book, and he’s a remarkable writer, and it’s a fun book to read.

Okay, so you decipher. How do you do that? You contemplate, question, and then answer. And I gave a quote by one that I got…

Measurement and Continuous Improvement

from one of my friends, Joe Marfolio. He said, “I would rather have questions I can’t answer than answers I can’t question.” See, the truth is not afraid of a challenge from error, but error has to be afraid of a challenge from truth because you can’t bring in enough lies to make the truth afraid of it, but one truth can make a lie violently afraid. Are y’all tracking, okay?

And so you decipher, and then you do. You act, you experiment, then you measure the feedback. And then, here’s a good mantra for you to grow through as you grow your business, as you grow yourself, as you grow anything that you’re working on: measure, measure, measure how far you are from where you’d like to be, measure how much effort and energy it’s going to take for you to get there, measure where you are right now. Okay, cool. So, measure, and then you monitor as you iterate. You monitor, “Am I closer now than I was before I did this iteration, or am I farther away?” Okay, so you measure, you monitor, and then you make adjustments. You adjust…

Objectives Over Goals

So the “adjust” part—I make adjustments because I monitored the feedback from my iteration. So I measure as I’m iterating. I measure, I monitor, and then I make an adjustment. And that’s how I ultimately control the outcome in the end.

So, I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is they set goals. My daughter and I had this conversation last week, but like, I don’t really set goals. I have objectives. And I know that sounds like semantics, but here’s what I mean when I say that. I have an outcome that I’d like to reach. But see, a goal, to my understanding—I could be wrong—but the way I understand the goal is you desire an outcome by a specific deadline. That’s a goal, right? By this day, I want to have this outcome. Isn’t that what a goal is? Isn’t that what most people think of as a goal? Well, like, I don’t do that. I don’t have like, “Myron, what’s your income goal for 2023?” I don’t really have an income goal for 2023. Like, I have an objective. I have a place where I believe we’re going. But it’s like, if I don’t make X amount of dollars in 2023, I feel like I failed. I don’t feel…

Input Objectives Instead of Outcome Goals

like I failed. So instead of having outcome goals, I have input objectives. So instead of… Because I can’t control the outcome. In fact, I don’t even know what all the variables are going to be while I’m on the journey. And so, how can I know that? Like, I didn’t know when I bought this building that it was going to require, in order for me to use it the way I wanted to, that it was going to require hundreds of thousands of dollars of renovations. I didn’t know that, right? I just knew, “Okay, this is what I want to do.” I came in, we did our first iteration, our first renovation by taking out the two offices that were in the middle here. Then we did our next iteration by taking out another two offices that were on the end. And then we took out the drop ceiling. And then we took out the light. And then, well, first, we changed all the light…

Synergistic Input Objectives

just a lot of stuff. We had to do a lot of things. If I had had a goal like, “I want to have my studio XYZ by ABC date,” well, we’re still not there, and I bought this building a year and a half ago, right? But I know where we’re headed. And see, if I know where we’re headed, and I have input objectives, then I know when all of the inputs are synergistically working together, the output will take care of itself. Does that make sense? Okay, so measure, monitor, adjust, and control. Then monitor.

So you expose yourself to concepts, then you examine your conclusions, which is similar to deciphering but it’s different because what you’re doing is now the conclusions that you came to as a result of your iterations, you examine the validity of those conclusions.

So I got started as an entrepreneur in October of 1985. I had passed my insurance exam in January of 1986. I had to learn the presentation well…

Perseverance Despite Initial Failures

Guess what I did? I learned the presentation between October and January while I was studying for my insurance exam. Then I had to go out and do presentations, and I did presentation after presentation after presentation, after presentation, after presentation. And by April of 1987, I finally made my first sale and my first commission check. Good thing I was part-time. And my first commission check was $125.66.

Now, I could have concluded in April of 1986, a year before I made my first sale, “This isn’t working.” Right? The people who are looking at me from the outside in, they concluded that this thing I was working on wasn’t working. I did not conclude that. So, guess what I did? I kept working on it. And I didn’t make a sale in February of ’86 or March or April or May or June or July or August. And, by the way, I was doing presentations all those months. Or September or October or November or December or January of the next year or February or March, April… Ta-da! It worked. Now, if I would have concluded…

The Importance of Perseverance and a Single Focus

that this doesn’t work, or at least not for me, this is a sign I shouldn’t be in sales. If I had concluded that, we would not be here having this conversation right now. I wouldn’t have this YouTube channel; I wouldn’t have written best-selling books because I would have assumed that the thing I was working on wasn’t working, just because it wasn’t working for me. But it was working. It wasn’t working for me, keyword: yet.

Because here’s what we learned in scripture: Why did you quit? Well, I didn’t have a Plan B. I just had my plan, like my plan was playing A, B, C, D, E, F, G all the way through Z because there’s only one plan I had. It’s like, this is the only arena in which I’ve ever seen somebody become wealthy. I’ve only seen the wealthy people I know, all of them are in this business and in this business opportunity and at this place. They’re the richest people I know. Why would I go listen to a bunch of my broke friends and broke relatives who think I’m making a mistake when these…

Staying in the Right Lane

People did it, and clearly, if they could do it, it can be done. And if it can be done, it can be done by me. So why would I quit? What am I going to do, quit and just go, “Well, this didn’t work for me, so I’m just gonna go quit and do nothing”? I’m gonna go quit and dig ditches. Well, but see, here’s the difference: I know how to dig a ditch, but a ditch cannot get me to, back then in 1985, ten thousand dollars a month. I can fix cars, but I can’t fix cars to make two to ten thousand a month. And ten thousand a month in 1985-1987 was a lot of money. The only people I knew who made ten thousand a month or fifteen thousand a month or fifty thousand a month back in the 80s were these people in this thing called business in this industry called insurance and financial services and investments. And I said, “This is my lane.” And I worked on it until I found something that I thought was more my lane, but guess what I did? I stayed in it long enough to develop some skills.

Gil, what’s that? That’s like when you know how to carry out these great ideas that you have, and they work…

The Transformative Power of Work

Solomon said, “All work works.” He said, “In all labor, there is profit.” Here’s the thing: most people make the mistake of thinking that because it’s not working for them, it’s not working. But I submit to you, even when it’s not working for you, it’s working. It’s working on you. And see, we have to become the kind of people who let our work work on us until we become the person for whom it can work. How many y’all tracking? Wave at me if you’re tracking. Okay, so we want to make sure we become the type of person for whom it can work. Cool.

So, I’m gonna evaluate, or I’m gonna examine my conclusions. I’m gonna examine the validity of my conclusions. Now, sometimes the conclusions I’m going to come to are very different than the conclusion somebody else would come to in my same situation. See, when I made my first sale after a year and a half, and it was $125.66, I concluded, “I am going to be rich.” That’s the conclusion I came to. Now, that sounds like a funny conclusion, right? But it makes perfect sense to me, because if I can do it, and I did that…

The Power of Persistence and Iteration

means I can do it again. And if I can do it again, I can do it again and again. And if I can do it again and again, I can do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And you stack enough $125.66 together, and it becomes a lot of money. Stack $125.66 together a thousand times, that’s $1.2 million. Ten thousand times, that’s $12 million. A million times, that’s $100 million. I did some math wrong there, but you know what I meant. I realized after I said that, that did not make sense, but you knew what I meant. Okay, so stop judging me. Just pray for me. Okay, cool. But you understand, you just do it enough times.

And see, I know when I believe in something, boredom does not exist for me in that arena. I can iterate a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times and not get bored, because I’m not looking at the iterations. What am I doing? I’m looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. How did he endure the difficulties of his assignment…

Focusing on Joy and Empowering Conclusions

For the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. We endure the difficulties of our assignment by focusing on the joy that is set before us. And so what I do is I just look at the day. Like, I literally, I’m sure I practiced guitar yesterday for two hours. I’m sure I did. And all I practiced was scales, six-string major scale in the key of C, front-facing, six-string major scale in the key of C, back-facing, for two hours. Don’t like 15 seconds. Why? Because the joy of being able to play my guitar at that level is so clear to me that it doesn’t matter how many iterations. Like, I don’t feel the pain. I mean, I feel the pain in my pinky, but I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Why? Because most people only know how to conclude, come to conclusions that are disempowering. It requires intention to conclude, come to a conclusion that’s empowering. And see, guess what? You get to decide that. You get to decide. See, you can’t decide what happens to you. You don’t get to decide what happens to me. What I do get to decide is after it happens…

Choosing Empowering Conclusions

What am I going to focus on, what am I going to let this mean to me, and what am I going to do next? I get to decide that every single time. I get to decide that when I make an offer and nobody accepts it. I get to decide what does that mean? What am I going to focus on? What am I going to do next? I get to decide that when a big sale falls through. I get to decide that if there’s a car accident. I get to decide that if somebody sues me. I get to decide that if the doctor gives me bad news. I get to decide if I lose a loved one. I can decide. I can always decide what this means, what I’m going to focus on, and what I’m going to do next.

I don’t get to decide what happens to me. And see, most people, what they’ll do instead of becoming hyper intentional about the conclusions they come to, what they’ll do instead is they’ll just make an excuse to say, “Well, that’s just the kind of person I am.” Well, it’s not just the kind of person you are; it’s just the kind of person you’ve decided to allow yourself to be.

Eliminating Excuses and Being Honest

I did a video recently on “no more excuses.” I learned the most valuable lesson in my life about excuses from Jesus. He asked the man who was lame for 38 years, “Would you like to be healed?” The man gave him three excuses: “It’s everybody else’s fault,” “I’m doing the best I can,” and “Other people are better than me.” Who does that sound like? Anyway, judgment-free zone. But watch this, Jesus didn’t even listen; he didn’t even care. He ignored it and said, “Take up your bed and walk.”

But here’s what I learned about excuses from Jesus: if I don’t make them, I don’t have to take them. Somebody can give me an excuse, and I can simply say, “No, I’m not going to do that because I don’t want to.” Wow, how about that? That would be a little transparent, wouldn’t it? That’d be a little honest, right? No wonder Billy Joel was saying, “Honesty is such a lonely word” because people don’t tell the truth. They want to say no without saying no, so they say, “Well, I’ve got to think about it,” when they don’t have to think about it; they just don’t want to tell you no. “I’ve got to talk to my wife, my husband, my next-door neighbor who’s just as broke as I am, the dog catcher, the mailman, the milkman, the UPS…” You don’t have to talk to anybody; just say no.

Now, people come to me and ask me stuff, and if I’m not going to do it, I’m saying, “I’m not going to do that.” Why not? Because I’m not going to.

Examining the Virtue of Conclusions

Examine the virtue of your conclusions. Is the conclusion I’m coming to a good one, or is it just one that makes me feel better in the moment? Sometimes we come to conclusions to retaliate, which is not a good conclusion. Sometimes it’s the best conclusion, but how do I know? I’ve got to examine the virtue. I’ve got to examine the virtue and ask myself if I’m doing this for a good reason or just because I want to get this person.

There are some virtuous difficult conclusions, and sometimes the truth is painful. But there are some very difficult conclusions that some of us need to come to in advance so we don’t have to make up our minds in the moment. Proverbs chapter 4 says…

Virtuous Conclusions and Setting Boundaries

It’s crucial to examine the virtue of your conclusions. Ask yourself if your conclusions are based on good reasons or if they serve to make you feel better momentarily. Sometimes we come to conclusions with the intent to retaliate, which is not virtuous. Other times, difficult conclusions are virtuous, and although they may be painful, they are necessary.

Proverbs chapter 4 advises us to keep our hearts with diligence, and out of the heart come the issues of life. We must set boundaries and have some things we won’t do no matter what. For example, not wanting to hurt or harm anyone is a virtuous boundary to establish. However, when it comes to protecting those we love, we should be prepared to act decisively if someone threatens them.

Balancing Peace and Preparedness

It’s important to strike a balance between seeking peace and being prepared for potential conflict. While the goal should always be to avoid hurting anyone, it’s also essential to be willing to protect and defend those you love if they are threatened. In some situations, confrontation may be necessary to maintain peace and protect others.

Jesus, often seen as a symbol of love and peace, also displayed righteous anger and took action when he saw wrongdoing in the temple. This illustrates that sometimes confrontation is necessary for the greater good.

The key is to maintain a balance between seeking peace and being prepared to act when needed, without resorting to violence unnecessarily. Being ready to protect and defend doesn’t mean seeking conflict, but it does mean being willing to stand up for what is right and just when the situation demands it.

The value of your conclusions should be tested in the marketplace or with your target audience. It’s not about whether you personally value your ideas; it’s about whether they provide value to others. If your conclusions, ideas, or products can genuinely help others, then they have value.

So, examine the value of your conclusions by considering how they benefit others and whether they address a specific need or problem in the marketplace. This perspective shift can help you create solutions and ideas that have real value to the people you intend to serve.

Many people have had negative experiences with salespeople or have encountered pushy or dishonest sales tactics that have led to a dislike of salespeople.

People often don’t like salespeople because they assume that the salesperson’s primary motivation is to make a sale and earn a commission, regardless of whether the product or service is genuinely valuable to the customer. This perception can create a sense of mistrust and discomfort.

However, effective sales professionals focus on understanding the needs and desires of their potential customers. They aim to provide solutions that genuinely benefit the customer and improve their lives. When salespeople genuinely care about the customer’s well-being and prioritize their needs over their desire to make a sale, it can lead to a more positive perception of sales.

In essence, successful salespeople see the potential customer as a unique individual with specific needs and concerns rather than just a target for a sale. This approach builds trust and can lead to more successful and satisfying sales interactions.

I like the challenge of negotiation, and I like having conversations and bartering. One of my favorite things about going to Israel is bartering with the street vendors. It’s fun, like a game or a challenge.

But I realized that when it comes to sales, not everyone enjoys or appreciates the negotiation process. Some people just want a straightforward, fair deal without the back-and-forth haggling. So, I adjusted my approach to match the preferences of the people I’m selling to.

In sales, it’s essential to adapt to the needs and preferences of your customers. If someone prefers a simple and fair transaction, that’s what I aim to provide. If they enjoy negotiation and want to get the best possible deal, I’m willing to engage in that process with them. The key is to understand your customer and tailor your approach accordingly.

By conducting ask campaigns and engaging with your audience, you can uncover their needs, preferences, and pain points. You’ll discover what they find valuable and how they perceive your products or services. This information is gold when it comes to tailoring your offerings and marketing strategies to better meet their expectations.

Remember, people want to buy solutions to their problems or products that enhance their lives. By understanding their perspective and what they value, you can position your business as the go-to solution provider.

So, ask campaigns are a crucial part of your market research and customer engagement efforts. They help you align your offerings with your customers’ desires, leading to increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Audience Feedback and Product Development

Launch that your audience will tell you everything you need to put in it in the product and you an Ask campaign I think Alex Mandozian came up with this but you asked this question: What’s the let’s say you’re a marriage counsel counsel, you do marriage coaching, right? What’s the single biggest challenge, man? What’s the single biggest challenge you have in your marriage? Then women, what’s this on a different day, women? What’s the single biggest challenge you have in your marriage? You let them tell you, and then you take all of those answers. What’s the single biggest challenge you have in your finances if you’re a business? Financial literacy, what’s the single biggest challenge you have in scaling your business like 10x? And you let them tell you, and then you’ll get, let’s say you get 100 answers, and you get 10 of each answer, or you get, no, let’s say you get 20 of one, ten of another one, like 15 of another one, five of another, you just take those answers and you make those the chapter titles in your book or the module titles of your course and you solve those problems because now you know you’re solving, and then you go back to and say, “I created a program and it fixes this, this, this is how, did you know you told me, right?”

Okay, so that’s examining the value. Until you cannot uncover value to someone until you discover what’s valuable to that someone, so we need to become.

Effective Communication in Business

We need to increase the level of empathy we have in business, and we will sell more. Now, that’s the “think like a genius” part, but if you think like a genius and you talk like a genius, you’re going to alienate the world. You have to think like a genius and then you have to talk like a third grader.

I have come to the realization there’s an app, there’s a website that you can take all of your sales conversations. Like if you get ready, you create a PowerPoint presentation, you can put your PowerPoint presentation into this website. You can copy and paste it in there, all the words, and then it will tell you what grade level that PowerPoint is on. You write a book, you take the concepts of that book, put it in the app, copy and paste it, it’ll tell you what grade level you’re talking about.

In a book, you can get away with fifth grade, maybe even seventh-grade level communication, depending on who you’re writing to. Obviously, if you’re writing to Ph.D.s, then do your thing; they love that stuff, right? And I say they because I really love that stuff too. I like reading that stuff if it’s about what I’m studying. But for the most part, you’re writing a book for the marketplace. You’re writing a book on marriage coaching, you’re writing a book on sales, you’re writing a book on Business Development, you’re writing a book on leadership. Put it in third-grade language; it’ll change the game.

Effective Communication and Connecting with Your Audience

Here’s a premise that I believe will not just help you in writing and creating courses but also in your communication in general:

Premise: We’re all big kids on the inside, and then we pretend to be adults to the world. That’s the premise. We’re just little kids; we’re all like these little third graders running around. Instead of saying, “Do you want to play with my ball? I’ll let you play with my ball if you let me play with your truck,” what we’re doing is, “Hey, I can solve this problem for you.” It’s the same game.

So here’s what we have to guard against: attempting to make the adult in me impress the adult in you. That’s the kiss of death in sales. That’s the kiss of death in impact. That’s the kiss of death in coaching. Instead of attempting to make the adult in me impress the adult in you, the thing that will change the game for you is when you allow the little child in you to connect with the little child in the people you’re talking to. It changes the game forever, like a total game-changer.

So, when it comes to talking like a third grader, you have to express yourself with simplicity. Now, when you go through college, if you get an MBA, if you want to get an MBA and you write a paper, you turn it into your professor, and you use a one-syllable word when you could have used a three-syllable word, they take off points for that. But in the marketplace, when you’re selling stuff, if you use a three-syllable word when you could have used a one-syllable word, the marketplace takes off points for that, and points in the marketplace are in the form of dollars.

Effective Communication and Overcoming Misunderstandings

Because if somebody doesn’t understand what you mean, most people now, I would say, “I don’t understand what you mean,” but most people won’t do that. Most people won’t say, “I don’t understand what you mean.” They’ll act like they understand what you mean and just disagree with you. Why? Because if they tell you, “I don’t understand what you mean,” it makes them feel stupid, and it takes them back. You understand how you don’t understand the programming of the miseducational, misdirectional system, aka the government indoctrination camps that make people feel stupid for getting bad grades.

So all you’ve got to do is go back to your childhood. I don’t know what you all did in elementary school. I found out later this didn’t work, but in elementary school, when I got an F, I changed it to an A with an eraser before I showed my report card to my mom and dad. Okay, so now I probably, okay, judge me, do your thing. I’m just telling you I did it. I may have even learned it from my older brother, maybe not. When he watches this, I’m sure he’ll let me know whether or not he learned it from me or I learned it from him. But anyway, so I changed the F to an A. I changed my report card before I brought it home, thinking that my parents wouldn’t be able to tell. But I erased the grade my teacher put on there. Kids are so goofy. Okay, yeah, okay, so.

But remember how bad it felt when you got your report card and had C’s and D’s and F’s on it? Maybe yours didn’t have those. I did great in school all the way through the third grade. I had nothing but A’s and B’s. I maybe had a C in penmanship through the third grade. After that, oh, I went to the other half of the grading system, and I stayed there. And so, but not only would you feel stupid, but then you take it home to your parents, and you get in trouble. And then they make you spend more time doing so-called homework, which isn’t homework, it’s schoolwork. They didn’t finish teaching at school. There’s no such thing as homework anyway. Homework, do your job. I’m paying you, right? Anyway.

You want to make me feel bad because I don’t go relearn algebra, which I know I never use.

Clear Communication and Avoiding Jargon

Now I gotta go relearn it so I can teach them, so now we’re not only wasting their time, we’re using them to help me waste my time to make sure they waste their time to validate your degree. I’m not doing it, and I’ll talk about a little bit of attitude about that. It was dumb anyway.

So instead of people saying, “I don’t understand what you mean,” they’ll say, “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think I want any of that.” They don’t have any idea what you just said. You just promulgated your esoteric consultations and articulated all of your superficial sentimentalities with all of the amicable and philosophical and psychological observations, if you wear platitudes, ponderosities, and you let your extemporaneous verbal evaporations demonstrate, clarify, concises with no compact or previous… I forgot the rest of those big words. Nobody cares. No previous gorilla tea or jejune bafflement. You did all that, but nobody knows what you mean. But they’re not gonna say, “I don’t know what that means.” They’re saying, “You know what, now that you mention that, I’m not going to do it.”

Instead of just admitting that because in order for me to say something to me and me to admit that I don’t know what you mean, not only am I telling you I’m stupid, I’m telling you that I know you’re smarter than me. That doesn’t happen when you talk like a third grader. You know why? Everybody knows what you mean. They don’t have to pretend.

The website that I was talking about earlier is called Hemingway App. Now, my son found out about this. He created a course called “Persuade like Presidents.” So what he did was he went back and evaluated all of the winning presidential campaigns from Reagan all the way through Trump, all of them, and then Barack Obama. He evaluated the grade level that those presidents spoke on. He said when they spoke at a higher grade level, they always lost.

Simplify Your Communication and Engage Your Audience

Interestingly enough, just the three that I remember: when Barack Obama won, he spoke at a fifth to seventh-grade level. Donald Trump won at a third to fifth-grade level. Hillary Clinton lost at a ninth-grade level. Like, impressing people doesn’t work. I mean, it does if that’s all you want. If that’s the paycheck, if you want an ego paycheck, you can’t cash them, but they make you feel good for a little while. If that’s what you want, keep talking like that. So you want to express yourself with simplicity. Now, here’s how you express yourself with simplicity. I’m going to give you some tools you can use.

1. Define It Early: Start at the beginning. What does that mean? Start at the beginning. You have to assume when you’re talking to people that they don’t know what you mean. So when you introduce a new word or concept, define it early. Because as soon as they hear a word they don’t understand, they are probably going to yawn. Like if you’re reading a book, you read a word you don’t understand, you’re going to probably yawn. But the next thing that happens is you totally disengage. Because anything that happens after that word, that word you don’t understand the definition of, is like a bridge being out when you’re driving your car down the road. It doesn’t matter what words come after that, it doesn’t matter how much road comes after that bridge. If the bridge is out, the bridge is out, and the whole conversation falls to its death. So you always start at the beginning when you use a word, introduce a word, or a concept, always define it at the beginning. One of the biggest problems smart people have is they are the only ones who know what they mean, and it’s hard. It requires more work to talk like a third grader when you think like a genius, but I promise you, it’s worth it.

2. Show Where You’re Going: The worst way to start is with a stupid joke. Let me give you my definition of a stupid joke: any joke you start your presentation with. Because one-third of the audience is going to get it and laugh, one-third of the audience is not going to get it and they’re going to be confused, and the other third is going to be offended. Do not start your talk with a stupid joke. Definition of a stupid joke: any joke you start your presentation with.

Effective Use of Questions for Engagement

Instead, start with two engaging questions because questions are the answer. In fact, any sales conversation would be better off if you started it with two engaging questions or not engaging questions, enrolling questions. So let’s say I’m doing marriage counseling, and I want to sell. There are a lot of marriage counsel coaches out there. Okay, how many of you would love to love more and argue less in your marriage? Let me hear you say yes. Yes. Okay, some of y’all don’t care; you want to argue more and love less. Okay, hey, do your thing.

Okay, and then, okay, I say, “Y’all must not have understood the question. How many of you in your marriage want to love more and argue less? Let me hear you say yes.” Okay, excellent. How many of you are willing to do the things that are necessary, even if they’re hard, so you can love more and argue less? If that’s you, let me hear you say, “That’s me.” Excellent. Give yourselves a hand for being here today. So now I told them by asking them what they’re going to learn. They’re going to learn how to love more and argue less in their marriage.

If I’m going to teach people how to write best-selling books, how many of you would like to become the author of a best-selling book that you are the publisher of? Let me hear you say, “I would.” Excellent. When I teach you how to do it, how many of you are willing to follow all the steps? Let me hear you say, “I am.” Excellent. Give yourselves a hand. See, all I did was show where I’m going by asking two enrolling questions because now they said they want the outcome that I know I can get them.

Are y’all tracking? Okay, and then the last part of talking like a third grader, and I’m going to get into that a little bit later.

The Power of Storytelling in Communication

Talk like a third-grader is story your way through every conversation. Story, story your way through the conversation. What does that mean? Story your way through. You want to tell a story of a transformation of someone the person you’re talking to can relate to. Tell a story of somebody who was where they are but is now where that person you’re talking to would like to be. And you story your way through the presentation.

In the words of my good friend Andy Enriquez, who’s a storytelling coach, he says, “Never make a point without telling a story, and never tell a story without making a point.” And if you will do those things that we talked about in the first video and then this video, you will think like a genius, talk like a third-grader. You may be less impressive, but you’ll be way more impactful.

Thanks for watching. Peace out, good Scouts. Have a great day.