Am I convincing you? (part 2)

Between factual correctness and emotional appeal, how can we hone our convincing skills? What can bridge these two? Perhaps focusing on blending the strength of ideas with an engaging style can do the trick? Let’s explore these options in order to effectively convince others. The most convincing traits in individuals often revolve around qualities that inspire trust, admiration, and respect. 

To fuel them, the person able to convince needs three key ingredients: Passion. Enthusiasm & Belief. These are also found in Charisma, that intangible charm or magnetism top salespeople (and persuaders exude).

It's often a blend of good communication, warmth, and energy. Being authentic also adds to that impression, as well as a touch of empathy and a display of self-confidence. Of course, if you’re the antithesis of Trump and his allies you want to add integrity to the package: Living by strong moral principles builds credibility. 

People who consistently act with honesty and fairness are hard not to trust. Then there are other traits that will further add to one’s ability to convince, like the strength to bounce back from adversity as well as the openness to new ideas and the ability to navigate change smoothly when the going gets rough and a never-ending eagerness to learn and understand, looking at the bright side of things however small, can be very motivating to others. 

Do any of these resonate with you and motivate you to sell others on your good ideas? If the answer is “Yes”, time to go for it!

Am I convincing you?

Often, I do my best to be convincing when I have to, and I place all of my focus into the subjects or the ideas I want to promote to others or defend when they’re being attacked. Yet, after thinking about it, convincing is more a matter of style and approach than it is about rightfulness of the element I’m promoting. 

In other words, I’m far too technical, when I should pay attention to the emotional angles of the issues. This raises a fascinating but counter-intuitive point, as being convincing often does rely more on how we present our ideas than on the inherent correctness or righteousness of them. This is because persuasion operates much more on emotional than logical levels.

While truth or rightness may appeal to logic, human connections, biases, and perceptions often respond more strongly to style, tone, and delivery. One way to explain this is to compare someone presenting an idea with confidence, empathy, and clarity that comes across as more credible, even with highly questionable arguments as we see it all the time with politicians. 

Conversely, a perfectly valid point might fall apart if it’s delivered in a hesitant or disorganized way. This doesn’t diminish the importance of promoting truthful, meaningful ideas—on the contrary, it shows how vital it is to pair substance with an attractive approach. 

Tomorrow, we’ll explore how we can achieve that…

How unique are we?

I sometime wonder what make us unique, and if that trait still can grow and get richer as we grow older? That’s a fair and fascinating question that touches on many aspects of our humanity. These days we all understand that it all begins with our DNA that maps out our physical traits and predispositions. Then, everyone’s journey is different, shaped by unique encounters, relationships, and events. 

These experiences form our perspectives, beliefs, and values. Even before that, my individual personality for example, has been shaped by my environment, my parents, my multiples occupations, travels experiences and evolving values which all influence how I’ve interact with the world. This I’ve also interpreted and understood based on my experiences and belief. 

Each time, I’ve changed job or tried to “re-invent” myself, I acquired new skills and talents that were developed through practice, learning, and my innate abilities. Over the years, my jobs and my moves, I’ve knit a network of relationships that has contributed to my sense of self and has shaped the way I’ve interacted with the world. 

Finally, aging and all the years I’ve been around the block have grown that capital of experiences, which further diversified my perspectives and enriched my understanding of the world. All the mistakes I’ve made have also gained me a deeper understanding of myself, my strengths, and of course, my weaknesses. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that aging as gained a more authentic and meaningful sense of self, greater wisdom and a more nuanced understanding of complex situations. Overall, while there may be some limitations, the potential for our uniqueness to grow and enrich as we age is significant. 

It's a process of ongoing development and self-discovery, so if we're interested in it, let’s all keep growing it!

Still having fun skiing!

As the ski season in Park City will be over over in less than a month, I’m already reflecting on it, and if this one won’t break any record in terms of day and vertical skied, it’s already been a wonderful one in terms of quality, in spite of a late start and an average snow cover. 

What I’m even more grateful for is that at the advanced age of 77 years, I still can ski fast, everywhere, in all kinds of snow conditions, and probably better and more efficiently than 51 years ago when I could have considered myself at the top of what I considered my heap. 

True, the equipment has evolved in the right direction, particularly with skis, but still, I remain dumbfounded and super-grateful about that reality. 

I’m so happy that 40 years ago, I set my mind to move to that paradise that Park City was, and in spite of too much growth, still is!

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional

I recently read in Haruki Murakami’s book "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" that "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional". It kind of made sense to me. Of course, I wondered, do we know if anyone, who said this? 

Well, I found that it was often attributed to the Buddhist tradition, though it's difficult to pinpoint a single originator. It echoes core Buddhist teachings, particularly those related to the Four Noble Truths and the nature of suffering. which emphasizes that while pain (physical or emotional) is a natural part of our lives, suffering is a choice that depends on how we process and react to that pain. 

For instance, someone might face hardship but choose to focus on growth and resilience, reducing the emotional toll. It's great a reminder that we can use our individual power of perspective and our human ability to find meaning or peace even in the most difficult circumstances. 

Something worth remembering when the going gets tough!

An expensive trip to Salt Lake City

On December 30, 2024, our local Firefighter ambulance company came to my home as I wasn’t feeling good, misdiagnosed me as having a heart attack and took me to the cardiac center of one of the main hospitals in Salt Lake, 33 miles down valley. 

Fifteen minutes into the ride, I was back to being myself and feeling good, but it was too late, the two paramedics on board and the driver were committed to take me there. 

I had just fell on my butt and hit a muscle that triggered a painful reaction from my sciatica nerve, but no one, from the medical guys in the ambulance to the specialists that told me I didn’t have a heart problem weren’t able to tell me that my sciatica nerve was the problem. 

I investigated the cause and found it myself. At the Fire Brigade’s request, I was asked for my insurance information in early January, gave it to them and my insurance paid them on February 12. Well, a few days ago, I received a bill asking me for $3,886.74! A pretty expensive trip to the hospital! 

Fortunately my insurance paid $979.65 of that and I only had to fork another $290 to satisfy our Fire Department. This said, the negotiated cost was only one quarter of what someone without insurance would have to pay. 

Once more, talk about highway robbery!

A very old down jacket!

My old Moncler down jacket is more than 50 years old (52 to be exact) and this week, my daughter wore it, as she needed something warm to ward off winter’s return. The origins of that garment and its name is worth mentioning. 

Moncler is in fact the abbreviation of Monestier-de-Clermont, a mountain village near Grenoble. Here in 1952, René Ramillon and André Vincent founded the company that created the now iconic down jacket that offered then high resistance and protection against the harshest climates and was tested in a variety of mountain expeditions. 

In 1954, Moncler’s down jackets were chosen to equip the Italian expedition to K2, in which Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli summited the world’s second highest summit. 

Successful through the 1980s, the brand began to lose ground and was acquired in 2003 by the Italian Remo Ruffini who turned the jacket into a luxury garment that sells today in the US for around $1,500. 

I purchased this one when I was a ski instructor in Avoriaz in fall of 1973 for significantly less, and it’s still almost like new. Talk about quality, then!