Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself

Something that I’ve realized I’m pretty bad about is repeating myself. It’s not that I do it too much, but rather that I don’t do it nearly enough.

I first realized this years ago when I would teach 8th grade Bible Study at our church. I’d get the curriculum, go through it with the students, and be done with it 10 minutes into a 60 minute session. They heard everything they needed to hear, but they only heard it once. It’s not that I should have done the same lesson over and over the same way, but augmenting your teaching with similar stories can help get the point across.

Some great examples of this include folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, Donald Miller, Seth Godin, and many others.

In the case of Gary V, I’ve heard him literally say it. His words were something to the effect of “ I have a few great ideas, so I share them over and over to help people understand. “

With Donald Miller, I’ve probably heard him say “ If you confuse, you lose “ 500 times in various podcasts, books and interviews. It’s a key to what he does, so he pushes it.

With Seth Godin, he has written daily blog posts going back nearly 20 years. They’re all excellent, but they fall along similar themes (as do his books and other content). He wants to make sure that his message is understood, so he repeats it frequently…