Don’t tell people what to do. Show them how to do it.
I came in second place last year at the New Jersey Tree Planting Convention.
I lost to my nemesis, Magatha. Yup, that’s her proudly wearing her crown. I’m coming for you next year!
On a greener note, I was at my friend Jen’s house the other day and she had just ordered some baby trees to plant in her front yard. Of course since I am almost the state’s best tree planter I started spewing my advice on how she should plant her trees. She didn’t really seem to be listening to me.
Then, our friend Franklin came over and took the rusty shovel from Jen’s garage and showed her how to plant a tree by planting one of the trees himself.
It was a lot easier for me to just start spewing my opinions about how to plant a tree rather than getting my hands dirty and planting one myself.
Even if I’m the expert in tree planting and I’m known around the world for planting a serious tree that grows to be a million feet tall…you still would rather take the lesson from someone who is showing you exactly how to plant the tree.
Unless you’re Aristotle, Socrates, or Shel Silverstein your meta one-liners aren’t going to make the impact you’re looking for.
Show examples, provide screen shots, record your voice with power point presentations, film yourself performing a fitness routine…show people how to do things themselves.
Tell digital stories like the one I just told you about tree planting. I’m not a professional tree planter and I don’t have friends named Jen or Franklin. But when I use digital storytelling I can get my point across.
Don’t just tell people what to do. Show them how to do it.
