How To Articulate Your Thoughts Intelligently (Talk Like This)

When I was young, I was always drawn to people that sounded intelligent. People

like Alan Watts, Jordan Peterson, Daniel Schmokenberger, or other individuals who could explain deep ideas in an exciting yet palatable way. Most of the time, I didn't understand what they were saying

either because I was too young and dumb or they were just over complicating what they were saying, but they sounded smart in articulate. So, I gave them my

in articulate. So, I gave them my respect. Now, the thing is, I never

respect. Now, the thing is, I never thought that I could do the same. I

never thought that I could be articulate. I thought that those people

articulate. I thought that those people were just inherently more intelligent than I was. I honestly didn't think that my brain could do that. I was a smart kid in school, but being good at taking

tests is a lot different from being good at stringing together coherent thoughts and articulating them to someone else. I

felt like I had to memorize entire books worth of information so that I could recite it on the spot because I was trained to learn that way. But now over a decade later and without really trying

to become articulate, people ask me how I write and speak so well. Now, I'm my own worst critic. I don't think I'm the best writer or speaker at all. But over

the past 6 years of me doing this millions of people have chosen to hit the follow or subscribe button on my social accounts, newsletter, and YouTube channel. I'm not an entertainer. I'm not

channel. I'm not an entertainer. I'm not

that funny. I'm actually quite boring which I like. I wouldn't even say that my content is eloquent or revolutionary.

I can, however, attribute most of that success to being able to articulate valuable ideas in a way that people are drawn to, and that's not very difficult to do. So, maybe you're a new creator

to do. So, maybe you're a new creator who wants to stand out. Maybe you're

going on a podcast and don't want to stumble over your words because you don't have a script when you're on a podcast. Maybe you want to command

podcast. Maybe you want to command respect in a company meeting or a sales call. Or maybe you just want to be a

call. Or maybe you just want to be a more interesting person. Now, I have three methods that I want to share with you that will help you articulate yourself more intelligently. And I've

ordered them from beginner to advanced so that you can practice and you can get started right now. These are the methods that I use when it's time to speak or when it's time to write or when it's

time to uh write a CV for a job application if that's something that you're going to do or when you're just trying to explain yourself in an argument and get your point across. But

there's something more important to that that has to come before because you need something to articulate. So first we need to build our inner album of greatest hits. If you want to articulate

greatest hits. If you want to articulate yourself intelligently, you need a pool of 8 to 10 of your biggest ideas that can be connected to almost any topic.

Then when it's time to write or speak in any situation, you have a starting point that you've already thought through hundreds of times before. I've been

getting invited onto more podcasts, but these aren't the types of podcasts that I was invited on to as a beginner. When

you're a beginner, you kind of just get on the podcast with a friend. He asks

you some questions. He's trying to build the podcast and need someone to come on to the episode. And it's just a good way of, I guess, like making friends or making connections. But now getting

making connections. But now getting into, I guess, the big leagues, quote unquote, where people spend thousands to tens of thousands of dollars on the production quality of their actual podcast, that's nerve-wracking. And

there's a lot on the line. And since

hundreds of thousands of people may be tuning in to listen to that podcast, I feel like I need to provide a ton of value, I better be able to articulate myself. Now, I'm not the best podcast

myself. Now, I'm not the best podcast guest yet. Not by a long shot. If you

guest yet. Not by a long shot. If you

watch any of the podcasts that I'm on it's definitely not as articulate as this YouTube video because Devon's in control of the editing here. I'm in

control of the key points. I get to choose what I'm talking about. It's kind

of premeditated. But when you're on a podcast, sometimes they give you the outline, but usually you're just riffing. When I listen back to the

riffing. When I listen back to the podcast that I do go on, after I listen to them, I'm I'm just like kicking myself because I knew that I could have responded to certain questions better.

And that leads to the exact problem.

I've written two books. I've written

hundreds of newsletters, hundreds of I've created hundreds of YouTube videos.

I've written thousands of social posts.

It's obvious to me which ideas are the most valuable. It's obvious which ideas

most valuable. It's obvious which ideas have led to the most DMs of people telling me that that idea changed their life. It's obvious that I really only

life. It's obvious that I really only have eight to 10 big ideas that illustrate the value that my brand provides. I've spent countless hours

provides. I've spent countless hours refining those ideas. I wake up in the morning and write for 2 hours and they're you it usually has something to do with those 8 to 10 big ideas. Those

are the ideas people want to hear. Those

are the ideas that introduce new listeners to who I am. But that's my biggest mental hurdle. I don't want to sound like I'm repeating myself. So

when I get on a podcast or when I'm asked to speak in front of a crowd, I avoid saying the things that I've already said, well, my mind kind of goes blank and I feel like I have to force

something out just to avoid having an awkwardly long pause. It's like I want to somehow have this mindblowing idea on the spot when I know that's not how

ideas work. Ideas require time to

ideas work. Ideas require time to dissect and explore. They have to be a part of you. Jordan Peterson, regardless of your opinion, is known for his articulation. It's captivating when you

articulation. It's captivating when you listen to him. Why? If you look at his body of work, it's obvious he has a body of work. If you wish to articulate

of work. If you wish to articulate yourself and you do not have a body of work that is continuing to be refined and continues to grow, then you have a lot of work to do before you can

actually be naturally articulate. Now, a

question to further hammer this home.

Why do you listen to your favorite musician? because they have a specific

musician? because they have a specific sound or style that you enjoy. Most of

their music sounds the same with slight variations here and there. You can

listen to a few seconds of their song and know exactly which artist plays it.

If an EDM artist immediately decided to switch to country music, their first track would be horrible, as most first iterations are, and most of their audience would not like it. The same

applies to being a creator, a speaker, a writer, or just a person who wants to be able to articulate themselves. You need

to write or speak thousands of times until your best ideas are obvious. By

nature, you must repeat yourself because the most important ideas deserve to be repeated. And how else are you going to

repeated. And how else are you going to refine them? Now, you can think of these

refine them? Now, you can think of these big ideas as tweets, right? These are

these are the big ideas that you use when it's time to speak. So, in my own writing, I have a few topics or content pillars that I go to all the time. These

are the things that I write about. It's

like the oneperson business model lifestyle design, how to get what you want in life, how to master your mind and now I'm talking more about AI. For

each of those content pillars, I have just a few a handful of tweets that I've written that hit hard and have been validated by the market. They get a lot of engagement and they're just good

ideas. Now, when I think about it and

ideas. Now, when I think about it and when I actually study how a podcast guest responds to the host, the best speakers don't answer the question that

the podcast host asks directly. They

don't say, "Um, well, good question. Let

me think about this for a bit." Oh

yeah. And then they go on. That's not

what they do. Instead, they just speak their best idea, the best idea that relates to that question with confidence, and then they expand on it with a few supporting points. Now, not

only does this keep the listener engaged, leading to the podcast doing better, and then more podcast wanting you to have on, increasing your success but it's also a clippable moment. So, if

that idea has already gone viral or has been validated when it's clipped and posted on social media, it's going to again and that's only going to compound your success more. If you've watched any podcast with Alex Foros, you know that

he's very good at this. So, if a podcast host were to ask him, "What's the greatest skill that someone can learn right now?" Orzie could say, "Oh, learn

right now?" Orzie could say, "Oh, learn sales or learn offer creation." But he understands that there are levels to this game. So, he would probably respond

this game. So, he would probably respond with his literal second most viral tweet, which is, "The single greatest skill you can develop is the ability to stay in a great mood in the absence of things to be in a great mood about."

That's very eloquent. That's a great quote. That has nothing to do with

quote. That has nothing to do with actual like skill acquisition that's on people's mind. So, that's a pattern

people's mind. So, that's a pattern interrupt as well. So, by Horoszi just making the decision to say that idea, he sets himself and the podcast host up for a very interesting conversation on a

topic that he's probably very fresh on and can talk about non-stop. And not to mention, that tweet has 105,000 likes. So, when it's clipped, that

likes. So, when it's clipped, that simple decision from Horoszi to actually say that idea is going to pay back tenfold because it's going to go viral again. So, all of that makes sense, but

again. So, all of that makes sense, but how do you actually start practicing this once you have a few ideas that you're ready to articulate? How do you actually articulate them? Right? Because

that's also a part of the process of getting these ideas right. So, I'm not just giving you frameworks for how to articulate yourself. I'm giving you

articulate yourself. I'm giving you frameworks for tweets or social posts or something that could potentially go viral. So, that's what we need to talk

viral. So, that's what we need to talk about is the three methods to articulate yourself intelligently. If you don't

yourself intelligently. If you don't know what to learn, start writing. Not

because writing is some shortcut you can't stop looking for, but because writing teaches you how to think, how to learn, and how to inspire people to care about what you do. Now, I call myself a writer, but I wouldn't actually consider

myself one. I don't care about grammar.

myself one. I don't care about grammar.

I don't care about how clever I sound most of the time. And when I start paying too much attention to being more clever, my articulation tends to suffer a lot. I also don't care if my sentences

a lot. I also don't care if my sentences run on or if I don't say something the best way it could be said. This actually

helps me stand out against AI. my

writing isn't that polished. Yet, as I said before, millions of people have chosen to hit the follow subscribe button because they found some form of value in that writing. Now, throughout

my journey as a writer, I've realized that writing is so much more than writing. It's not only just putting

writing. It's not only just putting letters on a page. If you want to become articulate, you should probably start writing. That is, you should start

writing. That is, you should start writing intentionally because you already write every single day. You text

your family and friends. You email your prospects, clients, and co-workers. And

depending on your work, you may write project outlines, feedback, proposals and more. If you really think about it

and more. If you really think about it the foundation of media, which is how you or your employer gets your work in front of other people and persuades them to care about your work so you can

survive and get paid, is writing. Now

media has evolved. If you want to succeed in any venture, you must go where the attention is. Right now, most of the attention is on social media YouTube, podcasts, and advertisements like Facebook ads. All of which require

you to articulate persuasively in the form of video scripts, posts, sales copywriting, post captions, and anywhere else that someone is reading a written post or spoken script, which is nearly everything. That's personally why I

everything. That's personally why I write 1 to two hours every morning. It's

because that's the foundation of literally my survival and everything I do. If I don't write on social media or

do. If I don't write on social media or my newsletter or a YouTube script or emails to prospects, how am I going to ever get a customer for my own work?

That's why I created 2-hour writer.

That's my writing system. But by

writing, that's how you practice articulating your ideas from the start.

It's like a first draft. And then you refine it and then you practice speaking it. And then you get really good at it.

it. And then you get really good at it.

And as a bonus, by posting your ideas in public, you get direct feedback in the form of engagement so that you know which ideas are the most impactful. And

building an audience from that also doesn't hurt. So with that said, how do

doesn't hurt. So with that said, how do you actually start practicing articulation in the form of writing?

That's what we're going to do is we're going to start with writing. So, here

are three frameworks. The first is beginner level, and I'm calling it the micro story. Because the human mind is a

micro story. Because the human mind is a story engine, humans can't help but pay attention to a story, especially if it's short and impactful. Once you learn how to do it well, you can effectively shortcircuit someone's brain into being

interested in the topic you are talking about. The foundation of a story is

about. The foundation of a story is transformation. This does not have to be

transformation. This does not have to be a transformation about a specific person. A transformation can be as

person. A transformation can be as simple as introducing a problem and giving a solution. And that's exactly what this is. So if you want to make that a bit more impactful, being able to

just write a tiny tiny story that isn't necessarily about a character or anything, it's just a transformation then you structure it like this. You

start with a problem. So you state a relatable problem or pain point that you've observed or experienced before.

Then you amplify the problem. So you

illustrate how that problem leads to a negative outcome if it is not solved.

And then you give a solution. So you

state the solution to the problem. And

in something like a short social media post, this can be one sentence or a short bulletoint list. In a long newsletter or script, this can be all of the key points with their explanations.

The problem and amplification would account for the hook. So, this section of the video would be the solution section of the microtory framework because I'm just going through the key points of how to actually solve the

problem of not being able to articulate yourself. Now, if you've studied

yourself. Now, if you've studied copyrightiting at all, you've seen this framework before. It's called the PAS

framework before. It's called the PAS framework. And after six years of doing

framework. And after six years of doing this, that's still my go-to when if I'm just like lost and don't know uh what to talk about, how to articulate it whatever. I just go to this framework

whatever. I just go to this framework PAS, start with the problem. Okay

what's a problem? You don't know how to articulate yourself. Okay, how do you

articulate yourself. Okay, how do you amplify that? What does that lead to

amplify that? What does that lead to down the road? You won't get the girl.

You won't land the job. You won't be able to start your own business. You're

going to live in your mom's basement for the rest of your life. Okay, what's the solution? Use the PAS framework. That's

solution? Use the PAS framework. That's

a tweet. It would actually probably do pretty good. You could expand that into

pretty good. You could expand that into a newsletter. You can turn that into a

a newsletter. You can turn that into a YouTube video or you can say it on a podcast. When someone says, "What's the

podcast. When someone says, "What's the greatest skill to learn?" You say "Articulation." Why? Because most people

"Articulation." Why? Because most people don't know how to articulate themselves.

Go into the amplify solute. Do you see what I'm getting at? Now, of course with all of this, this is assuming that you already have an idea to write about.

If you have an idea, then just think of the problem. What's the problem? Okay

the problem. What's the problem? Okay

amplify it. Okay, what's next? Give the

solution. Boom. And if you don't have an idea, you need to hunt for them. You

need to read old books, go down rabbit holes on a topic, listen to a new podcast, or just sit with your thoughts and follow them until you reach a compelling insight. When you hunt for an

compelling insight. When you hunt for an idea, you aren't just letting the information go in one ear and out the other. You are listening intently for an

other. You are listening intently for an idea that you wish you wrote. Then you

jot it down so you don't lose it. Then

you articulate it in your own words using these frameworks so it takes a new shape. Now the intermediate framework is

shape. Now the intermediate framework is called the pyramid principle. The

pyramid principle is a communication framework that structures ideas in a hierarchical logical way to make information more palatable and persuasive. And it's pretty simple. You

persuasive. And it's pretty simple. You

start with the main idea, the key conclusion or recommendation. You

support it with key arguments, usually three to five key points. You provide

detailed evidence, so data, examples, or analysis. And unlike most content today

analysis. And unlike most content today that waits to give you the answer until the end of the video or newsletter or whatever it is, this takes an answer first approach. Now, this works

first approach. Now, this works perfectly with the example from before with Hormosi where if his answer to the question, what is the greatest skill you can learn is the ability to stay in a great mood in the absence of things to

be in a great mood about, that can serve as the top of the pyramid. You're not

starting with a problem. You're not

starting with anything else. You're

starting with the idea, the conclusion the answer. Then he could support that

the answer. Then he could support that argument or that idea with key arguments as to why he thinks that's the best skill to learn. All you have to do is ask why three to five times and come up

with a compelling answer. And then after that, he can give examples from his own life, data about being in a great mood if he has the data or statistics on hand or just anecdotes from people in his

life or clients or customers. I've also

seen this framework be used in YouTube videos as well. If you are scrolling the YouTube timeline, try to pay attention to this. Try to notice these frameworks.

to this. Try to notice these frameworks.

You'll see some titles that just state the problem. You'll notice some titles

the problem. You'll notice some titles that just state like a really big idea.

And once you understand these frameworks, you can just see them everywhere. So for the pyramid

everywhere. So for the pyramid principle, you start with a great idea you make an argument about it and then you support it with data. Now, if you struggle to continue writing or speaking or you just get stuck or feel like you

have writer's block or speakers block this next framework is really going to help. But this is the advanced

help. But this is the advanced framework, which is just cross-domain synthesis. And this one is my favorite

synthesis. And this one is my favorite because I have multiple interests. It's

hard for me to stick to one topic or niche. I I want to weave things in

niche. I I want to weave things in right? I'm reading things throughout the

right? I'm reading things throughout the week. I'm watching videos throughout the

week. I'm watching videos throughout the week. I'm studying new things throughout

week. I'm studying new things throughout the week. I want to incorporate those in

the week. I want to incorporate those in my life somehow beyond just like consuming information. I love studying

consuming information. I love studying psychology philosophy health business, design, tech, and really anything that gives me the tools to live a better life. So, this framework is how I tend to structure most of my

newsletters. Not all of them, but most.

newsletters. Not all of them, but most.

And outside of the ones where I'm just focused on a singular tactical topic like this one where I'm just teaching something to do. So, here's the framework. First is problem and amplify.

framework. First is problem and amplify.

Your introduction should state a relatable problem and illustrate what happens if that problem is not solved.

Second is cross-domain synthesis. So you

know patterns or concepts from your other interests that help support your argument. If I'm talking about deep

argument. If I'm talking about deep work, I can use the concept of entropy from physics to illustrate how distractions work. This teaches my

distractions work. This teaches my audience something new and I can sleep well knowing that all other deep work content out there does not do this. And

third, you have a unique process or solution. So you give a list of ideas or

solution. So you give a list of ideas or steps that best solve the problem you introduced at the beginning solidifying the transformation. These should come

the transformation. These should come from your own contemplation rather than someone else's prescription. What I mean there is you should actually think through okay what is the best way to solve the problem and reach the solution

rather than okay I watch this YouTube video he had a good solution he had a good how-to or step-by-step advice. I'm

going to take that and put it in mine.

So in practice, let's say you're writing a newsletter with this or an article or a Twitter thread or an Instagram carousel or a YouTube video script or something longer formed so that you can

articulate for uh 10 to 20 minutes. So

you'd have the title of your piece, the introduction with the problem, a section that teaches a concept from another interest or discipline, then a unique way to solve the problem in the form of multiple sections describing each key

point. Now, the problem here is that

point. Now, the problem here is that this leads to something very long, like a newsletter, book chapter, YouTube video, or even a solo podcast. And if

you're just starting out, you'll be staring at a blank screen because you don't know how to fill in each section.

Now, luckily, writing is like Legos with ideas. And ideas come in predictable

ideas. And ideas come in predictable forms. If you understand those forms you can guide your mind to brainstorming what to write next. And here are a few easy ones. You can use a painoint. So

easy ones. You can use a painoint. So

if I don't know how to start a section I start with a relevant pain point, and ideas start to flow from there. There's

an example. So once I've started a section, you can throw an example in anywhere. This grounds what you're

anywhere. This grounds what you're saying. You can use a personal story. So

saying. You can use a personal story. So

think to a time in your life that relates to what you're writing about.

This can go anywhere. You can use a statistic. So research a truthful

statistic. So research a truthful statistic that adds more authority to your point. You can use a metaphor. So

your point. You can use a metaphor. So

explain a complex idea as if you're talking to a child. Alan Watts is incredible at this. You can use a quote where you include a quote that justifies what you're saying. Quotes are easy because they're almost always great

ideas. You can use a reframe. So give

ideas. You can use a reframe. So give

people a different perspective on the point you just discussed. Or you can just ask what, how, or why. Because when

all else fails, writing and speaking are just thinking and thinking is questioning. So if you didn't screenshot

questioning. So if you didn't screenshot those, you probably should because that's like those are the Legos. Writing

is Legos with ideas and those are the Legos that you piece together to articulate sentence after sentence or paragraph after paragraph. And if I don't know what to write or what to say next, I tend to cycle through those in

my head or latch on to the closest one and then give that. And once you get the hang of this, as with any skill, it becomes second nature and your thinking process starts to evolve. I hope that was helpful enough to get you started. I

would highly recommend joining the paid tier of my Substack. If you scroll through and look at the paid posts there are many drills and techniques and courses on writing and marketing and business and everything that we talked

about today. So check those out, like

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see you in the next video.