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Day 245: Change clichés for impact and engagement.

Here are two premises:

Clichés are bad. People will notice them and think you don’t have any new thoughts. This is bad impact.Original language is good. People will notice it and think you have a new perspective on the topic. This is good impact.

 

 

For really good impact, however, take a familiar cliché and modify it in a unique way. Of course, the modification must communicate a meaning relevant to your ideas. This will get the reader’s attention, make him think about the topic in a new way, and make you appear clever, knowledgeable, and interesting.

Three common ways to do this are

reverse words in the cliché, i.e., put them in a new order,replace one of the key words with a new word, and add additional information to the end.

 

 

 

 

Example cliché: “It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.”

Re-ordered words: “It’s the destination that matters, not the journey.”

Replaced words: “It’s the company that matters, not the destination.”

Replaced and re-ordered words: It’s the company that matters, not the journey.”

Additional information: “It’s the journey that matters, not the destination, unless you’re on your way to the bank.”