
Ask HN: How to learn to clearly express your thoughts - fandorin
Some people are really good are using words (writing or just speaking) to explain theirs opinions&#x2F;thoughts. I was wondering if anyone here had problem with this and somehow managed to get it to the &quot;next level&quot; and improved these skills.
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kleer001
I feel that I've been good at writing for a long time. But that's only because
I'm old and started reading and writing a LONG time ago.

So...

Read, read, read, then read some more. Take notes on what you read. Since you
want to work on your thoughts I'd recommend sticking to non-fiction essays and
more specifically editorials. These are examples of people putting their
thoughts together.

Put down that social media, put down those forums (esp HN), put down reddit
and imgur and facebook. Stop watching TV and movies, edutainment and
commercials in sheep clothing. They won't help you. I mean, you can't do this
24/7, but if you find yourself with some "free" time and can choose what you
want to do, don't just be a couch potato.

Write, write, write, then write some more. Doesn't need to be a lot and all at
once. But regular writing, even if it's only 50 words is necessary to get the
skills.

If you're not good at it, it's going to be a lot of work. But you're driven so
you'll be fine if you put in the time.

~~~
fandorin
Thanks. I am reading a lot, but I am not writing enough... I was wondering if
(and how) writing can improve your speaking skills.

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kleer001
IMHO there's no strong connection between writing and speaking skills. A
little bit of overlap, but not much.

There's probably a local Toastmasters near you to try. But I've never done
one. I have given a few lectures and taught a bit.

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trilinearnz
What has worked for me:

* Be aware of "signal-to-noise" ratio in your communication. If you want to say something - say it simply (as best you can) and then stop. Don't dilute your point with unnecessary prefacing or qualification like "but that's just my idea... oh I'm not really sure if I expressed it clearly". You will be very tempted to do this, but resist the temptation and let the silence sit a while, give people time to absorb your comment and to respond.

* Have faith in the approach of "practice makes perfect", or if that doesn't work for you - an "iterative approach", whereby each time you try to articulate your thoughts (and probably fail initially - that's OK), the _NEXT_ time you do so, you will be _just that little bit_ better. You don't need to focus so much on making it perfect each time - that just reduces your practice frequency and will feed your anxiety through analysis paralysis.

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gitgud
One specific thing to _level up_ your expression is to resist using the word
"like".

Some people use "like" endlessly and I've found it's a sign that they're
afraid nobody understands them, so everything they say is an analogy or
metaphor to try to relate to the other person.

It could also be because the person is not taking any time to formulate what
they want to say. Which leads to a ridiculous amount of redundancy in their
story... which makes their story a bit lame..

 _" So like, I was walking down the street and like it was super hot, like
really hot. Then I saw like this weird thing, it was like a big furry thing or
something"_

A little less "like" a little less metaphor.

 _" It was pretty hot, I was walking down the street and was shocked to see a
bear!"_

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thescribbblr
I had similar problem, I had to leave two jobs due to this problem as i was
not able to express my thoughts clearly. One of my friend, who was doing MBA
from a well-known University in India, suggested me to write Blog posts. And
also suggested to share them in the friend circle. So i did the same. Soon, my
friends started to comment on the posts, this helped me to learn about how to
convey my thoughts in simpler way to anybody. Also i learnt that, a simple
sentence works best rather than complicating it with selecting a range of
words to say a simple thing to someone.

~~~
eurvin
I can add to this that some languages have an active and passive voice to
express oneself. Clear thoughts are expressed and experienced by the
listener/reader by using an active voice.

Example: I have written a comment on HN and I have been feeling good ever
since. (passive) vs. I wrote a comment on HN and I feel good ever since.
(active.)

The active sentence is both clean and concise.

Any English native speakers please chime in with better examples. (:

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dougb5
You're right that the second sentence is simpler, but both of the sentences
are in the active voice. (The difference between the two is in _verb tense_ :
the first sentence is in "present perfect" tense and the second sentence is in
"simple present" tense. The first sentence places more emphasis on the writing
as a completed action than the second sentence.)

A better example of the passive voice here is "A comment on HN was written by
me".

Here's a guide to the difference between passive and active voice:
[https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/passive-
voice/](https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/passive-voice/)

...and a guide to verb tenses:
[https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/introduction-to-
verb-t...](https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/introduction-to-verb-tenses-
everyday-grammar/3123576.html)

~~~
eurvin
Thanks! I learned a lot from those links. (:

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baobaba
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. (4th edition) helped a lot. (Note:
English is my second language.)

~~~
fandorin
Looks like a gem! I will definitely read it. Thank you!

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fistfucker3000
Keep a journal where you write out any ideas you have (about anything). It
allows you too audit yourself in real time and makes it harder to hand wave.

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yesenadam
In a nutshell...read Zinsser's _On Writing Well_! So much great advice in it.

Also keeping a diary for 25 years helped me, I think. And reading a lot of
great (non-fiction prose) writers: e.g. GK Chesterton, Santayana, Bertrand
Russell, RL Stevenson, William James, Emerson, Hazlitt, etc.

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tucaz
Everybody here is focusing on the writing part of the equation but that is not
the most important one.

Expressing a thought is just the last step of communication.

Only organized and correctly structured thoughts can be expressed in a clear
way.

If you can’t communicate well it is an indication that you are not thinking as
well as you think you are, because if you were, you wouldn’t be having
problems.

It is fair to say that most people nowadays still don’t know how to write or
read. Illiteracy is still a huge problem in the whole world. They might know
how to write a word but they can’t explain what the word is supposed to mean.

I see that everyday. My boss will write that “X team member needs to perform
at a higher level”, but can’t, for the love of God, provide a specific example
or direction as to what that means.

I’m pretty sure she thinks she knows in her head what it means. The problems
is she doesn’t. If she knew she would be able to clearly communicate what her
expectations are and how X member is not meeting them.

My recommendation is to stop thinking about how to improve the output of your
thought process and focus on improving the content.

All great presenters will work months on prepping the message that they want
to convey. Every word will be carefully selected because every word has a
different specific meaning. That’s why we think people are great at writing or
speaking. They are great at that as well, but above all else they are great
thinkers.

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tamiral
I've learned a lot by watching keynote speakers, or TED talks. The delivery of
some of the speakers is exceptional on how they tie an idea together.

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Yvonne_McQ
Read books of different authors on different topics. Try to be acknowledged in
many themes.

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Timmia
I always try to give good advice.

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stevenalowe
Study copywriting.

~~~
fandorin
How? Where?

