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Posted

I'm really into the podcasts here and others that I've found online and I really want to communicate these ideas to other people but I'm utterly terrible at doing so. It comes off confused, unclear, vague and pointless ... Are there any useful resources you can recommend?

 

I've tried a few books but they are generally unhelpful.

Posted

Communicating which ideas? For what purpose?

 

My biggest problem (both in the past and present day) is getting distracted. When somebody puts forth something that sounds like a good idea. Which leads to either forgetting what was being talked about (its purpose) or understanding the ways in which isn't not a good idea. If this sounds like something you might struggle with, I'd recommend Stef's Introduction to Philosophy series on youtube. It's long, but it starts from first principles and builds from there. I've found it helps me to identify contradictions and other irrationalities that might cloud a conversation.

Posted

I've tried a few books but they are generally unhelpful.

What do you mean by that? Do you mean you mean you'v read books about communicating, or that you'v plugged or given books to people? If it's the latter then which ones?

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Posted

Some questions may help narrow down the precise problem:

 

Do you speak with people much? If you are not very practiced then the first step is to just get out of your own head and practice talking to people more about anything. Stop reading, stop watching tv, stop playing video games, stop doing all those sorts of things and go talk to people.

 

If you do speak with people sufficiently, do you notice that you have difficulty only when speaking of serious topics? If so, then the issue isn't ability to communicate but rather ability to handle the threat of adversity and rejection. That is not a problem with speaking fundamentally.

  • Upvote 1
Posted

I'm really into the podcasts here and others that I've found online and I really want to communicate these ideas to other people but I'm utterly terrible at doing so. It comes off confused, unclear, vague and pointless ... Are there any useful resources you can recommend?

 

I've tried a few books but they are generally unhelpful.

 

Practise practise practise

 

 
Join your local toastmasters club that will help a lot! people go from dodgy communicators to very good speakers in 9 months

 

You can also decide on an idea you'd like to communicate and break it down into bulletpoints with a pad and then articulate it to the mirror

you are probably rushing and that's why things come out badly - slow down - focus on what you are trying to say and put it simply

 

you can practice swriting down your ideas and then going through everything you have said and summarizing it in less complicated language

 

speak to children as when you explain things to them you have to simplify your language

 

there are lots of ways to practise

Posted

I recommend John Searle's philosophy of language lecture series on youtube. The way i've found that works is to require people use precise and clear language when communicating ideas. Think of something like "women are being hypersexualized in the media." Understanding that statement hinges on one word "hypersexualized." I bet most people gloss over such expressions in conversations without asking for definitions.

 

As a joke try coming up with definitions of hypersexual, it gets funny.

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