No Music. No Intro. This is The Morgan Snyder Show.
Last week, we covered how to loosen up and inject personality into what you’re creating and writing on the internet.
This week, we will dive into another way to accomplish that, plus, pointers on how to have fun with language and continue to get people interested in you.
But first, a story.
I was a “bad” student
During middle and high school, I was terrible at playing the public education game.
Which, upon further review, was a missed opportunity. I’ve always been pretty decent at both playing, and games. So, you would think if I followed the rules (turn in your worksheets and study random facts and formulas) I would have been a fantastic student.
I’m very competitive, high energy, and will try to dominate UNO as much as I would street hockey, wrestling, or who-can-do-the-best-trick? on a trampoline. At school? I couldn’t have cared less. I didn’t treat it as a game.
I was bored. Teachers and counselors told my parents I had ADD, and to put me on medication pronto. I would definitely struggle in college, if I could even make it into one.
Now, I knew, even as a 14 year old kid, there wasn’t anything wrong with me. The one class I could play in, Show Choir, I got straight A’s.
I aced all my sight reading evaluations. I auditioned for solo performances every year and sang at all the major shows for the school. I was section leader for years.
I wasn’t blind. I could see the difference.
So, grades aside, what was Morgan like in Show Choir vs. the rest of his classes?
In every class that didn’t include singing and dancing, Morgan was kind of an emo kid that didn’t even want to raise his hand. He didn’t act like a leader. He watched the clock and waited to make his escape from Math, Science, and History prison.
But as soon as he stepped into the Show Choir room, a new person emerged: magnetic, charismatic, and ready to sing Luck Be a Lady Tonight.
The transformation (and my ability to be liked by both teachers and students) came about because of play.
I was loose, free, and didn’t have a worry in the world. I didn’t care what people thought about me in Show Choir. In fact, I felt most like “myself.”
I was there to have fun. I was there to play.
You can be professional AND play!
Speaking of school, we’ve all learned the forms and structures for “proper communication”, and many of those teachings are hard-wired into our brains, making it difficult to play as a professional.
We know how to set up a thesis. We know how to support it with main points. We especially know how to summarize correctly so we can hit word counts. Booyah.
That’s all nice and good, but how we communicate online is a world away from 9th grade English class.
We’ve evolved. We absorb information in entirely new ways.
You can be non-linear online. Tangents are expected. “And” can start a sentence and no one cares. Flow and style are equally important as organization of thoughts and ideas.
People want to be entertained as they read.
The Grammar Police have been disbanded! No more red pens! Huzzah!
I would say it’s the most exciting time in our earth’s history to be a creator, a writer, or a thought leader.
Language is becoming more flexible and a lot of people are sick and tired of the status quo (and AI…sorry, robots).
Like we discussed in the last episode, it’s ok to be funny. We can redefine what professional even means when it comes to content and sharing our story.
You can write in short sentences. You can abbreviate. You can use punctuation to change meaning.
English is evolving. You don’t have to do what your teachers told you to do.
You. Are. In. Control. See?
The Curmudgeon, Mr. Trout
From time to time, I’ll get an email or message that says something like this,
“You’re a copywriter, and I caught a few errors in your last email. Does that matter to you? How much time do you REALLY spend editing? Does it keep you up at night?”
Look, I’m all about being correct and finding the most interesting phrase to use or the best word choice.
And if this was official client work, you can bet I would go through it with a fine tooth comb and catch all the issues.
But no, I don’t sweat mistakes. Especially not here or on social media.
For example, the classic rule you’ll hear some writers use is to, “write like you talk.”
Well, that means you can’t play with spelling, punctuation, capitalization, double meanings, layout, and structure. Kinda sucks.
Also, do you really write LinkedIn posts, tweets, emails, texts, IM’s, captions and scribble little notes like you talk? If so, weird.
Most of us write more in a given day than we talk.
That’s how we communicate. That’s how people read and learn. So the, “whole write like you talk” adage is pretty irrelevant.
We can all have a little fun with our content and writing.
Like me in Show Choir, you come off a lot better, and make a better first impression, when you give yourself permission to play, when you allow yourself the space to imagine fun possibilities.
Think about what a tragedy it would have been if the Got Milk? campaign couldn’t get through the grammar police and was…
Do you have any milk?
Ugggggh. That would have been AWFUL.
The signs in the cafeteria telling us to drink more milk wouldn’t have been nearly as cool.
Seeing as a major point of differentiation for leaders is having a personality and being interesting, I would venture to say we should all be in play mode when we’re sharing our story…
..or at least play before getting all serious and professional.
That’s how some of our best ideas come to be.
That’s how you can get people interested in what you’re doing.
So here’s my challenge for this week.
I want you to go to your own personal show choir room—whatever it takes to get into that headspace where you’re most comfortable—and play with ideas and let yourself laugh and have fun as your creating.
See what happens.
Then, come back here next week and tell me about it.
I’ll be warming up my pipes to sing, “The Music of the Night.” ; )
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If you enjoyed the show today, give it five stars and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It shows people that this is worth listening to.
Want to talk shop on all things writing online? You can find time with me at thoughtleadertoday.com or send me a DM on LinkedIn.
My friends: keep writing, keep publishing, and I’ll see you next time.
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