We Have A Real Communication...Well, Problem

It's been a while in coming but, well, we need to have a talk.

It was a good verbal trick for some time, giving your statements a little, well, emphasis.

But it's gone too far. Yeah, you might not even hear it coming out of your own mouth at this point, so common has it become in conversation, in text, and in narration in videos...but really, it has become, well, annoying.

It's that passive beat there at the end, that "well," meant as the subtle windup before the punchline, but it is one more overused trope that's hurting your messaging. You want to hook your audience with a message that leads, has unassailable clarity and, most of all, is received as unique...dare I say, "innovative?"

But it is hard to put something out there with the claim of innovation attached if we're still holding back, well, the point.

I do it, too because, well, I'm a hypocrite! But I'm trying. In order for me to be the best communicator I can be, I need to put down the lazy language, the cliches, and the "natural, conversational" voice that - not surprisingly - is only natural and conversational on television. When I put out messages, I believe they are messages that deserve to be heard, need to be received, and if I jeopardize that urgency because I leaned into such a hackneyed trend, that's, well, a shame.