Train Your Brain to Think More Accurately And Clearly 

By Ange Fonce

Neuroscientific research is showing that being “precise” and “accurate” in how you “speak” and “write” also “sharpens” the way you “think.”

The latest neuroscience research is showing that the human brain uses “neurons” in the “left visual cortex” to process “written words” as “whole word units”... the brain combines these words and their “stored meanings” to “remember” and “understand information.”

Analytical or “accurate thinking” is the process of “remembering words” and putting their “meanings into context”... this process is not simply accessing a “mental dictionary”... every time you use words... you “recreate their meaning”... the words you habitually use when you are “thinking” and then “expressing your thoughts”... mould “how” you "relate" to the world. 

For example... 

People who “habitually think” and "speak" and "write" the word "hate"... tend to find an “ever increasing” number of things to “hate”... their “perspective” of their world is “distorted” by “hate”... the same process applies to "love" too.

This “relationship” between “word usage” and “perception” is hugely important in “how” you “relate” to life... other people and your environment... when you train yourself to “speak” and “write” using “clearly defined words” arranged into “concise sentences”... you are training your “brain” to think more “accurately” and “clearly.”

More important... is that when you “write” and “speak” more clearly... you increase your ability to “persuade” and “influence” others... due to their “mirror neurons” in their “brain”...  they will begin to “imitate your clarity” in their own “thought processes”... clarity is contagious.

Conversely... if you habitually use fuzzy... “ill defined words” crammed into long and convoluted sentences... you are training your own “brain”... and the “brains” of others... to think less “clearly”... and “accurately”... confusion is also contagious.

With that in “mind”... here are 3 easy ways to “sharpen” your “word skills”...

1... Mentally edit out fuzzy buzzwords...

While most “buzzwords” are simply annoying... like saying "utilize" rather than "use"... some are so fuzzy and vague that they automatically lead to “confused thinking.”

The worst offenders are... alignment... person centric... core competency... crystallize... diversity... holistic... leverage... paradigm... seamless... stakeholder... and synergy.

Take the term “synergy”... in physics... synergy describes... the creation of a whole that is greater than the arithmetic sum of its parts.

Everyday example... combining flour... water... yeast and heat to create a loaf of bread.

Do you use the word “synergy” when making a loaf of bread?

No... you use the word “bake!”

Yet “synergy” pops up when disparate organizations are combined... as in a merger... acquisition... or restructuring... and “synergy” in its “truest meaning” is so rare... that it exists to the point of non existence.

And as I have just written that sentence... I thought to myself... “eh..?”

I should really "edit" it... yet I have left that sentence as it is... as a "point proven!"

Even when things look good on paper... getting different cultures to fit together... people to stay on board... agreeing.. all these things are really hard to put into “practice” in the “real world.”

Rather than ask “difficult questions” and “think things thoroughly through”... people who use the “bullshit beats brains” approach to things... use the word “synergy” to make “problematic deals” seem more palatable... like pouring lots of ketchup over rancid meat.

Mentally “editing” out the fuzzy... vague buzzwords when you are talking... speaking... listening... or reading gradually “clears your mind” of the “confusion” they “create”... which will make your “brain” more “accurate”... making you more “smarter.”

2... Simplify your writing...

If you find yourself “writing” or “reading” long... complex sentences... “edit” and “re edit” them so that they “express your point” in fewer words... do this repeatedly and over time you will automatically accustom your “brain” to shorter... clearer... precise wordings.

Here is an example of “waffle”...

“Leveraging XYZ technology and compliance expertise can give your business an important competitive advantage. XYZ can help you manage the “people side” of your businesses more effectively... avoiding compliance pitfalls and creating key benefits for the businesses and your employees... while simultaneously freeing up time for owners and executives to concentrate on growing their businesses by focusing on operations... strategy... and innovation.”

While that paragraph is grammatically correct... it is using a lot of words to “waffle” around a fairly simple concept... I am sure that if you read it carefully... you know what they are getting at... and it can be worded with much more economy... like so...

“XYZ handles your personnel busywork so that you can spend more time growing your business.”

Simplifying “waffle” to the fewest number of words does not just make your “writing crisper”... it also “habituates your mind” to seek the simple “essence” of needlessly complex concepts... the more often you “practice” this “clarification process”... the “smarter” you get.

3... Play the "one syllable" game...

This exercise trains your “brain” to use smaller... easier to understand words rather than complex ones... the concept is simple... work to “communicate ideas” using words of only “1 syllable.”

For example... 

If  I were to "communicate" the rules of the game using those rules... I would write... 

"The point of the game is to talk and write with words that are so short that they can not be split."

While this kind of “writing” and “speaking” does not result in anything you would actually use in a discussion... the “mental training” of “simplifying” accustoms your brain to reach for the “simple words” rather than the “complex ones.”

Since complex words tend to "complexify" and “confuse” your "thoughts" and your own “expression” of your “thoughts” in “communication”... simplifying your “communication” leads to more “accurate” and  more “clearer thinking.”

As the saying goes...

SIMPLICITY is the GREATEST form of SOPHISTICATION!

Thank you and may you enjoy a Prosperous and Dynamic day!

Yours Sincerely



Ange is an  Author... Speaker... and Dynamic Peak Performance Personal Development Consultant... and Humanistic Counselling Psychologist who works with men and women on line and real world who desire to "personally develop" themselves and their "relationships" to become Dynamic Lifers... "creators" of their own life and wealth!

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