Can you learn how to be inspirational?
Can you learn how to write in such a way that readers feel stirred and encouraged to implement your tips?
You might think some people are born to be inspirational.
You either have charisma or you don’t.
Martin Luther King Jr. had charisma. And so did Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and Marilyn Monroe. Oprah Winfrey has it, too, and Michelle Obama, and the Dalai Lama.
But ordinary people like you and me?
I used to think I was too plain and too boring to grow an online following. Interacting on social media frightened me. What if my followers would find out how boring I am?
But I’ve learned that my thinking was flawed. Even I could learn how to inspire my audience. Even I could have fans.
How to inspire a raving audience
In her book “The Charisma Myth,” Olivia Fox Cabane argues charisma can be learned. Charisma requires three core elements: presence, warmth, and power.
Cabane explains why charisma requires both power and warmth:
Someone who is powerful but not warm can be impressive, but isn’t necessarily perceived as charismatic and can come across as arrogant, cold, or standoffish. Someone who possesses warmth without power can be likable, but isn’t necessarily perceived as charismatic and can come across as overeager, subservient, or desperate to please.
And about presence, Cabane writes:
Being present—paying attention to what’s going on rather than being caught up in your thoughts—can yield immense rewards. When you exhibit presence, those around you feel listened to, respected, and valued.
In face-to-face contact, a sense of presence relies largely on body language. In writing, it may seem more difficult to be present as we can’t make eye contact with our readers. However, we can mimic the idea of presence: Write for one reader in a human voice, so you make each reader feel you’re writing for him alone.
The elements of warmth and power also apply to inspirational writing…
How to write with both power and warmth
Powerful writing exudes confidence.
So, write without “ifs” and “maybes,” and avoid “I think” and “in my opinion.” And don’t be afraid to use the imperative voice.
An example of a wimpy voice:
If you’d like to write with more confidence, you should perhaps try writing with fewer words.
More confident:
Want to write with confidence? Use fewer words.
Confident writing is concise and precise.
But confident writing without warmth feels distant—as if you’re writing to impress and command rather than to educate, engage, and comfort your readers.
Writing with warmth means skipping the gobbledygook which makes you sound like a company. Instead, use everyday language and sensory words. Connect with reader’s emotions and show you understand their fears, worries, and dreams.
An example of cold words:
When you constantly use the words “I should” in your thoughts, you stress yourself out. Instead, try “I could.”
A warmer version:
Feeling overwhelmed by your ever growing to-do list?
I’ve been there, too. I kept telling myself I should do more. I should be more active on Twitter. I should open a Facebook account. I should make more progress with my next book. I should focus more. I should be more present. I should stop feeling so overwhelmed.
The endless stream of “shoulds” made me feel incompetent and miserable. As if I was spinning out of control.
Recently, I stopped beating myself up with “I should.” Instead, I rephrased my thoughts: “I
shouldcould be more active on Twitter, but right now I’d rather focus on my writing.”The result? I feel less stressed, lighter and more at ease. I can even concentrate better.
A warm voice is compassionate, making readers feel understood.
Writing with both power and warmth requires a delicate balance.
A powerful voice uses fewer words while warm writing tends to use more. The key is to know whether your words convey meaning and warmth or whether they’re weak words—filler phrases expressing little or no meaning.
Also, you may know more and share your knowledge with readers, but that doesn’t mean you’re better. Write with authority and power, but don’t make your readers feel stupid, bad, or small.
Your readers are your equals.
Treat them that way.
Take a step back and slow down
When I started blogging I felt insecure.
I didn’t think I had enough knowledge. I doubted my writing skills. I was afraid to be seen as a fraud. That’s why I crammed as much information as possible into each post. I wrote posts with 37 tips, 21 mistakes, and 58 ways to be more persuasive.
But how often does an abundance of tips inspire action?
When I gained confidence, I started diving into smaller topics, sharing fewer tips per post.
Writing about ridiculously tiny topics goes completely against most blogging advice, which tells us to write about what keeps people awake at night.
But the huge advantage of tiny topics is that your advice becomes doable.
In their book “Switch,” Chip and Dan Heath call this “shrinking the change:”
[If] people are facing a daunting task, and their instinct is to avoid it, you’ve got to break down the task. Shrink the change. Make the change small enough that they can’t help but score a victory.
Make tiny ripples
No matter whether you’re teaching people how to write, how to practice yoga, or how to run a thriving business, your readers face a daunting task.
So, if you want to inspire your audience and spark change, start small.
Get readers to implement one tip, and make them come back for more.
Let them score tiny victories.
And celebrate.
Recommended reading on inspiring your readers:
How to inspire with your business story
How to write with warmth and kindness
How to engage readers so they’re begging for more
Thank you, Henneke,, it’s really inspiring. I will come and read this one often 🙂 You are my inspiration.
Thank you, Bikash. Happy writing!
Henneke,
You’re absolutely right.
Most blogging advice states that you shouldn’t focus on small topics. That readers don’t want “vacuum” topics. But yo know what? You proved them wrong because I love what you’re doing.
Focusing on certain aspects of writing in each posts gives the focus (that week) on that topic. And it’s not too overwhelming so it certainly can be doable.
Keep doing what you’re doing because to me, it’s working.
– Andrew
Thank you, Andrew. I appreciate your “thumbs up.” It would be impossible to focus on big topics every week as I’d become far too repetitive 😉
Thank you for stopping by. Happy writing!
Hey Henneke,
I love it when you go against commonly held wisdom and most blogging advice. You are making my rule breaker heart sing 🙂 Great post on how we can standout from the crowd and inspire our readers/customers (and ourselves) make a difference. The idea of ‘shrink the change’ is exactly what I needed to hear for my blogging. Plus my clients will likely thank you too. Cheers for that bonus.
So yes to small steps. Hear, hear to doable incremental change on the way to transformation.
Hey Nicole
I am more and more finding out there’s no one blueprint to run a business or write a blog, so we all have to figure out the way it works best for us and our audience. So, here’s to breaking as many rules as we like! 🙂
Always good to see you again! 🙂
Hi Henneke,
I have read a lot of your work. All of your articles are helpful and convincing. And this post is another example of the good work that you always do. I am certainly going to edit my next post to make it more powerful and warm.
You are truly an inspiration.
Keep sharing your tips 🙂
What a lovely compliment. You’re making me blush 🙂
Thank you, Samiksha. Great to “meet” you 🙂
Hi Henneke,
This is such an inspirational blog. Your above mentioned tips are really helpful your readers. Thank you very much.
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Henneke, you are inspirational. Thank you for your beautiful words.
Thank you, Pam. What a lovely comment.
Thanks, Henneke. Your posts are compelling! I so appreciate the simplicity and warmth with which you write. They’re always beautifully written and packed with useful tips. Great job!
Hi Betty, thank you for your lovely comment. I appreciate it! 🙂
I agree. I read that book too, but I never made the connection. It is there, for sure. Great connection!
Thank you. It’s also quite interesting how she explains different styles of charisma – they apply to writing, too: you can focus more on kindness or more on power, or keep them quite balanced.
Henneke,
Beautifully said. It’s always been my dream to be able to inspire my readers so thanks for these practical advices!
I agree with you on how daunting post of “58 tips to write better” are not very attractive. I mean, they are great but we have so many of them already. As an avid reader, I prefer narrowed topics like “how to be inspirational” and “how to write with power”. These types of posts are much more applicable and useful in the long run. 😉
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Anh
Yes, that’s so true – we have plenty of long list posts already 🙂
I also think that specific topics pique my curiosity more than posts that try to solve all my issues at once (those posts usually underdeliver 😉 )
Thank you for adding your thoughts, Anh. I appreciate it!
Inspiration is what I write, Henneke, and this is the type of post I SO need! Thanks a million! I’m about to introduce my latest guest post, which is a bit inspirational and I want to inspire, even in the intro, so this also is beyond timely for me.
Yay! I love it when a post arrives just at the right time 🙂
Thank you, Katharine!
Thanks. Great post.
You’re welcome 🙂
Many thanks, Henneke.
I will read these straightforward tips again and again.
They will be a guiding light for me.
Helen
Thank you so much, Helen. I appreciate your lovely comment.
Happy writing!
Hey Henneke,
I really like what you said towards the end. Talking about one tip at a time goes a long way. Especially for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of time.
Besides that we must figure out how to balance warmth and power. We want to be empathetic and yet at the same time convincing. This definitely will help grow a big following.
Thanks for sharing! Have a good one!
Yep, I think most of us are the same – not many people feel like they have oodles of time. So, you’re right – that’s another vote for keeping it simple and focusing on one tip at a time.
Thank you for stopping by, Sherman.
Hi Henneke,
This is great! With my blog I’ve always wanted to be inspirational but I constantly battle with limiting beliefs like, “What gives me the right to inspire people? There are people doing WAY more inspirational things than me.” But as you said, stick with smaller, more specific topics and your tips become more useful. I’ve been playing with this idea for a while, trying to get away from the long list posts. It’s always nice to know an inspiration like you is doing the same!
Have a great day!
Eric
I quite like reading super-inspirational stories, but somehow I don’t relate to them very much – they feel too far-fetched. So often they don’t really inspire me that much.
I feel more inspired by someone who feels just a little ahead of me, who solved an issue I’m struggling with or who’s just done something I’d like to do next. I’m also not the type of person who gets inspired by big hairy goals – I like focusing on the next step and keep momentum growing.
Thank you for your kind words, Eric. Always good to hear from you!
Thanks Henneke – I always enjoy (and benefit) from your articles.
I’ve just one thought to add…
Our personality and mood come out in our writing. While we may not be able to easily change our personality, we can certainly choose to write only when we are in a confident, upbeat mood.
🙂
Yes, that’s an interesting point. We can even try to change our mood before we start writing. I’ve found, for instance, that reading the newspapers can affect my writing a lot. The news can sometimes put me in a negative or bad mood, and after reading, I struggle to get into the right mood for writing. So, I usually delay reading the news until I’ve done my most important writing.
Thank you for adding your thoughts, Craig!
Absolutely. And listening to ‘mood’ music can definitely help too.
Thanks again!
Yes, and remind ourselves how lovely our readers are 🙂
Thank you Henneke for your warm post, written with power and presence.
It reminds me what I read years ago in a book: if you want to do many things start doing one 🙂
Yes, that’s so true. That’s my mantra when I feel overwhelmed 🙂
Thank you for kind words, Maurizio!
I love the idea of smaller topics, keeping the amount of tips per post down. “Shrinking the change”.
I’m amazed by your ability to explore and explain topics from different angles and perspectives. Never get tired of reading your posts.
Thank you, Henneke :).
I’m glad to hear you’re not tired of reading my posts yet, Irina. I appreciate that as I do get my doubts from time to time… ,em>am I getting too repetitive? Am I writing too much about too tiny topics? But I tend to think, if it fascinates me, then you and other readers will probably find it interesting, too.
Thank you for stopping by again!
To me, long posts are killers. I get tired by looking at them. Seldom read them to the end. They are often overwhelming.
Your posts, on the other hand, are right to the point. They make me feel calm.
Keep going!
Delightful post-Henneke. So timely.
Your demonstration of writing powerful sentences by tightening them
up is a reminder to myself to do just that.
Your posts are one of the few valuable ones I read.
Thank you.
That’s a wonderful compliment, Ray. I appreciate it. Thank you.
If one were to survey the world’s charismatic leaders — or even the charismatic folks in one’s home town — I’m thinking a good number of them would confess they didn’t lead lives of always being inspirational. Somewhere along the line, or many somewheres along the line, they had to muster up the courage to be present and warm and powerful.
I like your point about courage, Stan, and I think that builds over time – just like confidence.
I always appreciate your thoughts!
Shrinking the change. I like that. 🙂 I often say even baby steps move you forward. I like how power is defined in the context of words exhibiting confidence.
In his Power of Words speech, Mohammed Qahtani expressed it this way ~ “Words have power. Words are power. Words could be your power.” Power to the people. 😉
I love that quote. I’d love to gift more people the power of their words 🙂
And yes, let’s celebrate every baby step we take!
Thank you, Cathy.
Thank you once again for a wonderful, thought provoking post Henneke! I’m just about to edit the second draft of an article, so a timely reminder to speak to readers as equals, and not do what i’m always tempted to – cram a million references into one paragraph 🙂
Yes, I know the feeling. I had to cut a few paragraphs and references from this post, too. Especially when I write while still formulating my thoughts, my content gets unwieldy. But sometimes it’s the only way to find the essence. So, we’ll just have to do the work 🙂
Thank you for stopping by, Mel. I appreciate it!
Henneke – another absolutely awesome post. You are my go-to resource whenever I’m writing. I’ve just written a few notes from your article at the top of a legal guide I’m writing. Thank you. You may save me (and my clients) from myself yet. Thank you again and again.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Kim. I’m sure you don’t really need to be saved by me 🙂
Wow. This will be something I read weekly. I love how you specify how confident and warm writing differ, and to pay attention to the message you want to convey. Also, to get the ‘ego’ out of writing by remembering you are writing to equals. Great post, thank you!
It’s interesting, isn’t it? I find the balance between power and warmth quite fascinating.