Cozahost Newsletter Archive

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We explore cognitive dissonance and the resulting cognitive bias as well as tips for writing copy for your web site while touching briefly on glossophobia.  We introduce Google videos and point to internet happenings in South Africa too.

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Cognitive dissonance.  Pretty impressive term.  It means, simply put, that a sane person cannot hold two conflicting ideas or perceptions in his brain at the same time:

You cannot think of yourself as both clever and stupid at the same time.  One of the conflicting ideas (cognitions) will have to go.  To reduce dissonance you might edit memories, censor your sensory perception, re-focus attention - until one of the two conflicting ideas are removed.  You will see / hear / feel / smell / remember things only as long as they are congruent (in line with) the belief you choose to accept - ie, you will adopt a cognitive bias to reduce dissonance.

Seeing is not believing - but rather: believing is seeing:  We can only see what we already believe.

Let's do that slowly: you can only see what you believe. 

Read that part again: First you believe and THEN you see.

If you made your mind up that you are a genius - you will see (and remember) all the evidence you need to support that belief.  If you made up your mind that you are a twit - you will find creative ways to support that belief too.

Ok, now you might be thinking that this newsletter is starting to sound suspiciously like a "lets-run-barefoot-over-hot-coals-just-for-kicks" seminar.  Well, it's not and I am not burning incense or making nasal "huuaaaam" sounds while I am writing this. 

I am talking cold, hard scientific fact:  Your beliefs control your senses and it controls your memory.

Lets just get one thing straight before we continue: cognitive bias is completely normal.  It is not a mental health problem, so you can just forget about scoring a few days sick leave on the back of this newsletter.  Our brains are designed to reject information that is incompatible with what we already know - that's why we don't go "Oh how interesting!" every time someone makes a convincing argument that the moon is in fact made from a rather spicy cheddar cheese.

Given then that we are all "cognitively biased", and all of us are delusional to a greater or lesser degree, what is the relevance of this?  Why is it important to know and understand?

Because gentle reader, in this life there are very few things we can control:  we cannot control other people, we cannot control the weather and we cannot control the economy or Telkom.  But we can control the most important thing of all: our own beliefs.

The brilliant book "The power of positive thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale has been teaching since 1956 that positive thought can change your life - your reality.  I don't think Mr Peale knew why it worked - only that it did.  Today we have the science to explain why it works, but most of us have become so cynical that the very idea that "just" our own thoughts can change the world causes a cognitive dissonance and is summarily rejected. 

Most of us believe that thoughts are insubstantial - like smoke or ghosts - ineffectual, impotent, vapor - and yet nothing can be further from the truth.  Our thoughts are our only reality - and we manufacture it inside our own heads.

Ok, lets just stop for a second.  If you do not believe that your thoughts (beliefs) can change your life, then you will not be able to grasp (accept) what I am writing - will you?  Your cognitive bias will come to your rescue. 

So let's try something else - a little "trick" that is one of the most important lessons I've learned in my life:

It goes like this: "In adversity lies opportunity".  I understand it to mean that in every problem, in every bad situation there is at least one thing you can win.  At least one opportunity to improve, to overcome or to grow.

If people complain about BEE: notice the new customers and tax payers it creates.

If South African technology is behind the rest of the world: see the gaps in the local market.

If you have problems in your relationship: You can spend time to find just one positive thing you can honestly complement your partner on.

Don't misunderstand: I am not saying that by believing you can fly you can.  Or that thinking happy thoughts will make the bad things disappear. 

I am saying that nothing is ever completely black.  There is always at least one positive thing - but you will only be able to see it if your belief, your cognitive bias, allows you.  

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  Welcome the adversity - it brings great opportunities.

Make your cognitive dissonance your ally - let your beliefs empower you - let happiness be your bias.
    

Africa internet users pay 9000% more
African internet users pay on average 90 times what US surfers pay, crippling efforts by the world's poorest continent to become competitive in a global economy driven by communications.
   

 
Last time we talked about the importance of writing content - copy ("Copy is King" - 09 May 2006 edition) in your marketing efforts.  We also discussed art vs. craft and we showed that building your web site is more about craft (perspiration) than it is about art (inspiration).

I guess people are afraid to write - in much the same way that most people are afraid to speak in public.  Although most would agree that speaking or writing are valuable skills they could learn - the idea of actually doing it causes immediate cognitive dissonance, sweat, shortness of breath and reflexive drinking.

In fact, it is estimated that 75% of people suffer from glossophobia - making it the most common phobia in the world.  (If you didn't guess, "glossophobia" is the fear of public speaking.)  It is said that some people fear public speaking more than death itself.

Well, help is at hand.  If you can write effective copy, you can write your speech and, just before you are due to deliver it, fake laryngitis, a stroke or spontaneous explosive vomiting - and simply shove the written speech into someone else's  hands to have them read it on your behalf!  A simple, zero stress solution to get your message across. 

The point is that the skill (perspiration / craft) of writing effective copy is very valuable indeed.

Here are the most important guidelines for writing effective copy: 

Keep it short
Keep your sentences short.  One idea = one sentence.  Edit and re-edit until all unnecessary words and phrases are removed.  Don't drone on and on.

Sentences should contain less than 20 words (or two lines) and paragraphs less than 6 sentences.

Seek and destroy unnecessary words.  

Keep it simple
Never use a big word if a diminutive one will suffice.  Writing is about communicating to your target audience: use words THEY understand and know.

If you have to introduce a "big" word or technical term, explain it. 

Write to express and not impress - in other words write to express your ideas and not to (try to) impress your audience.

Keep it direct
Understand who your audience is and speak to them directly.  On the internet your communication is personal, so use a conversational tone and not formal speech.  Make it compelling.

Use the active voice: Write "We developed the gizmo" instead of "The gizmo was developed by us."  Write like you would talk to your audience - in other words: from-me-to-you / mano-a-mano / one-on-one. 

Keep it alive
Use action verbs - say "Gizmo outclasses the competition because...." instead of "Gizmo is better than..."

Also called "the active voice" - the object acting is after the verb.  Example, passive = "The article was edited by the writer", active = "The writer edited the story"

Keep it structured
Have a beginning, a middle and an end.  Start with "Once upon a time a little..." and continue to "...and then the big bad..." and end with "...all lived happy ever after."  It will help if you write your outline (plan) first and then fill in the blanks.

Once your outline is in place and you have a structure and you know what you want to say - start hammering the keyboard and don't stop to edit until you reach the end.

Edit, edit, edit
Edit your work to make it shorter.  Then edit it again. And then again.  Then ask a friend to read it too.  Editing is the cutting process that turns a lump of rock into a beautifully sparkling gem.

A good resource is the six-step writing process by the USA army here...

Practice makes perfect.
      

At Cozahost we help small companies and professionals tame the internet so that they can concentrate on making money.  We take care of the technical stuff so that they can take care of business.  Here are some of our products and services:
 

  
Kids.  What would we do without them?  Here are a few funny stories about big little people:

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her son into bed.  She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't dear," she said, "I have to sleep in Daddy's room".  A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy."

--o0o--

One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of chicken little to her class.  She came to the part where Chicken Little warns the farmer.  She read, "...and Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, "The sky is falling!".  The teacher then asked the class, "And what do you think the farmer said?"  One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: 'Holy sh*t! A talking chicken!'"  The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

--o0o--

A kindergarten pupil told his teacher he'd found a cat, but it was dead.   "How do you know the cat was dead?" she asked him.  "Because I p*ssed in its ear and it didn't move" answered the child innocently.  "You did WHAT?!!" the teacher exclaimed in surprise.  "You know", explained the boy, "I leaned over and went 'Psssstt!" and it didn't move.

--o0o--

A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later: 
"Da-aaadd..."
"What?"
"I'm thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?"
"No, you had your chance. Lights out."
Five minutes later: "Da-aaad..."
"WHAT?"
"I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water?"
"I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!"
Five minutes later: "Daaaa-aaaaad...."
"When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"
 

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