We all know that guy or gal…
The one who yammers on incessantly about whatever floats into his or her mind. Filtering is rarely a concern as the inane crap leaves this person’s lips while everybody within earshot grows slowly dumber and more bored.
As far as the speaker is concerned, they’re spinning a world-class yarn and the listeners should count themselves blessed to be hearing it.
But, as an unlucky recipient of the drivel, your priorities quickly shuffle so “get the hell out of here” sits right at the top. You feel parts of your soul dying a little and the speaker seems to have no idea how badly everybody wishes (s)he would stop talking.
Sound familiar? It’s maddening. And it’s exhausting.
When creating content—blog posts, emails, podcasts, whatever—most people focus on what they want to say. That’s fine, but the trouble comes when that’s the only factor in deciding what to produce.
Thing is, you have to publish, then listen. Play the tune and see if any feet start tapping.
When the people start moving, you know you’re on the right track.
If nobody’s grooving, play a different tune. You don’t need to nuke the current tune—maybe it’ll hit differently some other time. But it’s not filling up the dance floor right now, so it gets the frickin' hook. For now, at least.
But you’ll never know the difference if you’re “singing” with your eyes closed.
So follow these steps:
- Publish something that you enjoy and are proud of
- If people respond, do more of that.
- If you hear crickets, change it up.
Rinse, repeat.