Getting people to care about what you are engaging them in

A reader asked: why is it that after communicating a message, people understand but don't care?

This is a great question. I used to think that if I could just make how I communicated more engaging in some way, it would change people's hearts.

I have since learned that it doesn't work like this. Here is how I conceptualise it:

1. There is communication

Everything begins with the prompt that we offer — the "thing" we want to communicate.

Think of this as scattering. You are sowing your message as a seed into people's minds. Sadly, you can't control too much here. It will be a fleeting memory that the brain will discard in order to divert resources to more important things.

2. There is action

For any of us, it is by taking action that we convert the fading memory in our minds into our bodies, and therefore turn an idea into something. By turning an idea into something through action — no matter how small — we have moved it from the realm of fleeting memory to the realm of something our body actually did.

Action is the way that we get people to turn our communication into something more than temporary memory.

3. This is (trans)formation

As a result of action, people are unlikely to care — but they are more likely to. And because they have done something, there will be an output. That output is formation: some kind of change.

Our job is to actually ensure that as a result of their action, things are a bit better. Sometimes, this change can even be transformational.

4. Putting it together

Communicate your thing. Get them to take an action — ideally, you make this action happen. Even more ideally, make this action something stimulating and social. Ensure their action makes things different.