February 11, 2025: How to Be a Powerful Communicator

“You should live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.”

― Seneca

Hi friends,

We hand-picked 3 good pieces of content for you to highlight this week. We hope they’ll help you get new ideas and perspectives.

If you want to reread or highlight this newsletter, save it to Glasp.

📚 3 Good Recommendations

How to Be a Powerful Communicator
by Jason Feifer (6 mins)

• Answer the “First Question” Repeatedly – People always ask, “Is this for me?” when consuming content. Effective communicators must consistently reaffirm that their message is relevant and valuable to the audience, not just at the beginning but throughout the conversation.
• Use the “Bricks and Mortar” Approach – Bricks represent facts (the core content), while mortar provides context, making the information relevant to the audience. A strong message isn’t just about stacking facts—it’s about structuring them in a way that resonates with the listener or reader.
• Always Serve Your Audience’s Needs – Great communication is audience-focused. Whether writing, speaking, or storytelling, the key is to deliver content that informs, entertains, or challenges in a way that directly benefits the listener, making them feel “Yes, this is for me.”

Motivation is Overvalued. Environment Often Matters More.
by James Clear (5 mins)

• Environment Shapes Behavior More Than Motivation: While motivation and talent matter, the environment plays a bigger role in shaping habits and long-term success. Historical examples, such as the spread of agriculture across different continents, demonstrate how external conditions can accelerate or hinder progress.
• Designing a Better Environment for Success: Three strategies to create a productive environment include automating good decisions (e.g., using smaller plates for portion control), aligning habits with daily routines (e.g., placing a musical instrument in a visible spot), and removing negative influences (e.g., storing unhealthy food out of sight).
• Success Is Often a Product of Environment, Not Just Effort: People who consistently succeed often do so because their environment supports positive habits, while those who struggle may be battling unfavorable conditions. To improve results, one should create an environment that naturally encourages success.

How to cure Highlight Dementia
by Cortex Futura (3 mins)

• Create Context Around Highlights: Avoid “Highlight Dementia” by adding context to your highlights—write a few words explaining why you highlighted a passage, what it reminds you of, or any questions it raises.
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Reading: Synchronous Active Reading (immediately adding notes alongside highlights) helps retain meaning better than Asynchronous Active Reading (highlighting now and adding notes later), which risks losing context over time.
• Transfer Highlights to Permanent Storage: To maximize the value of your highlights, move them to a structured storage system (e.g., Roam Research, index cards, or a commonplace book) and enrich them with personal insights.

📣 Community

• 🟨 Chrome Extension Update:
  We updated the Glasp browser extension. It includes new features and bug fixes below:
  • Introduced the “Export to Notion” feature for YouTube summaries.

• Added a highlight note popup that appears when hovering over highlights.

• Improved highlighting function to capture links within the highlighted text.
• Fixed a bug in the Kindle highlight import feature.
• Updated the UI for the highlight popup and sidebar.
• Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions, or if you find any issues!
• 🟥 Glasp Talk with Joey DeBruin:
  Glasp Talk features intimate interviews with luminaries who reveal their emotions, experiences, and stories. The guest, Joey DeBruin, is a passionate entrepreneur, product builder, and writer dedicated to empowering creators and innovators to make the world a better place. Joey is the Co-founder and CEO of Robo, a revolutionary company streamlining the product-building journey for founders by eliminating traditional barriers with AI.

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👀 Featured Curator on Glasp

Ryan Wittler
He learns science, climate, economy, and more! Let’s follow him and learn together 🤝

Please mention @Glasp and share your profile page on X to get featured!

❤️ Gratitude

We found some people who mentioned Glasp in their articles and blogs, and we appreciate all the kindness!

• PKM Weekly for January 30 2022 – Issue 004 on Curtis McHale
• Ferramentas e Diretrizes para o Uso Ético da IA Generativa (Tools and Guidelines for the Ethical Use of Generative AI) on Brasil Acadêmico
• Glasp on tyy.ai
• Glasp x IP on そこが知りたい米国特許実務 (What You Need to Know About U.S. Patent Practice)

We had the pleasure of attending Sahil Bloom’s book event in San Francisco 📖“The 5 Types of Wealth” is a game-changer—rethinking success beyond just money. It was grateful for the insights and inspiration! If you have a chance to see Sahil, please let him know that we’d love to have him on Glasp Talk🎙️

Thank you for sharing and mentioning us on X, LinkedIn, and/or in your blogs 🙂 We appreciate your support! Please feel free to ask us anything at any time! Also, feel free to join our Slack community ;)

We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter!
See you next week ;)

Best,
Kei and Kazuki

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