The Power of Words

A professor named Mehrabian at the end of 1970 conducted research on the impact of communication which later became a basic reference for humans to convey a message.From research involving 1000 respondents, the words we say have an impact of only 7%, the remaining 38% is voice pressure and the rest is body language.

Penelitian ini sampai sekarang masih kita gunakan, walaupun sudah sedikit berubah seiring datangnya era digital. Sehingga saya menambahkan porsi gaya penampilan seseorang di dalam komponen-komponen tersebut. Menjadi kata-kata 10%, suara 20%, penampilan 10% dan bahasa tubuh 60%, seperti yang saya tuangkan dalam buku saya “Strategi Sukses Berkomunikasi Secara Efektif” terbitan Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2019. Mengacu dari teori sang profesor, tetap kata-kata memberikan dampak yang kecil. Pun demikian, kata-kata adalah senjata kita dalam menyampaikan sebuah pesan. Kata-kata yang tepat dapat membuat seseorang suka ataupun benci kepada kita. Membuat seseorang mengingat apa yang kita ucapkan atau mengabaikannya.

In the previous article, I also discussed the importance of having rich and varied vocabulary abilities.Unfortunately, this awareness is still low in our society.We have too little vocabulary, so with the advent of the digital era where we mostly use words, the words we often use are inspired by the jargon on social media, making the words we use sound generic and have no impact.

For this reason, it is important that we have the ability to choose the right words so that they can be remembered and can have a strong influence in producing the action we expect from a communication goal.Start getting used to the skills of arranging the right words.Combine common words with words that people rarely use but can be understood.

Powerful words contain a lot of emotion.Not words like when we will motivate the person we are talking to by saying "you can do it" but thinking about whether the person we are talking to will be moved if we go into their emotional side first and then combine it with motivating words.For example, "I understand the difficulties you face in carrying out this new assignment, as in every learning process, of course this process will be long and winding, but we believe you can give your best so that your performance can take you to a higher career level!"

There is a narrative that we prepare through saving words that have been stored in our memory.Words that are too short, especially common, sound ordinary and only pass by to the other person's ears.Having time every day to read lots of diverse writings/narratives is a panacea.

Starting to actively write will also hone your ability to put words together.I myself do this regularly, and if I see a piece of jargon or a word that I find, I will then make a different sentence and note it down in my notes.When we continue to hone and take notes, we will become more adept at composing powerful words and don't forget to read the ability of the person we are talking to.To be precise and help them think and move.