Orating in High Definition

The value of speaking from clarity

One of the most valuable byproducts of writing is that it disciplines you to accurately assemble your thoughts before manifesting them into the written word. 

Inherent in the act of writing is the writer’s willingness to think about what he/she wishes to say — before actually saying it. As any writer would attest to, a failure to do so will only result in a string of nonsensical verbiage that is at best — of little use, or at worst — irreflective of what the writer intended to express.

This habit of introspecting one’s thoughts before expressing them need not be reserved solely for the act of writing. It should also be adopted to the act of speaking, where unwise choice of words is more commonplace. 

Perhaps the most fortunate reason why the thoughts in our minds are not directly accessible to the outside world is as such: because a great majority of them is random nonsense. And in general, the only group of individuals who will gladly listen to other people’s non-filtrated random thoughts are well-paid psychologists and psychiatrists.

Outside of this niche of professional listeners, the responsibility rests on us as speakers to more thoughtfully consider what it is we actually want to say, and of what use it is for us to say it. 

In a world where noise very often crowds-out signal, and regurgitation spreads much more virally than reason; clarity of speech has never been a more rarely traded commodity. 

And just as writers are required to sculpt their thoughts in high definition before the act of publishing, speakers must attempt to sculpt their thoughts with just as much clarity before the act of speaking.

Allow thoughts to ripen like fruit before you express them, and they will be more easily digested by others. But offer them before they are ripe, and you are left with a sub-par produce best left unserved. Best left unsaid.