Framing

#4 - May.2021

Searching for clarity as you speak is a lifetime skill that is worth developing. Making yourself clear when explaining or teaching others is great - and people will appreciate it.

The human brain doesn't deal well with tiny bits of random information - it looks for some level of abstraction or patterns that help connect the ideas. There are very interesting details in Ray Kurzweil's 'How to create a mind' on how this works if you are interested. People search for these connections. They look for a frame to understand things. As you speak, is your job to give them that frame.

I use a simple trick: before even start explaining anything set a hard number of categories in your mind (3-4 is the magic number). Force yourself to describe whatever you're explaining within those 3-4 categories - this is your frame. This will force you to synthesize and will give people a base to follow you. Start with an overview using that frame and then jump into details.

This might seem obvious, though so many times we struggle by communicating unstructured ideas. Frame it first - using levels of abstraction will make you a more effective communicator.