WEBVTT - One exclamation point is enough

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:07.560
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:15.360
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:22.600
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is that one exclamation point is enough. Yes,

0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:27.400
<v Speaker 1>written language can benefit from some show of emotion, but

0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:32.839
<v Speaker 1>exclamation point inflation gets us nowhere. Being a bit spare

0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:39.520
<v Speaker 1>can preserve this bit of punctuations power. Today's tip comes

0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.760
<v Speaker 1>from Erica Dewan's new book Digital Body Language, How to

0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:48.320
<v Speaker 1>Build Trust and Connection no matter the distance. The book

0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.919
<v Speaker 1>is about managing the work landscape when people work virtually

0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:55.920
<v Speaker 1>at least some of the time. That's really almost all

0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.960
<v Speaker 1>of us these days, because even if you are in

0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.320
<v Speaker 1>an office forty hours a week, my guess is that

0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.119
<v Speaker 1>you email your colleagues as often as you actually talk

0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:11.160
<v Speaker 1>to them. There is some evidence that written communication is

0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:16.920
<v Speaker 1>perceived more negatively than spoken communication. When we see people talk,

0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:22.080
<v Speaker 1>we see the soothing nonverbal cues like smiling that's softened

0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:27.880
<v Speaker 1>the words. Written text gets none of that help. Of course,

0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.240
<v Speaker 1>it's also a bit harder to emphasize things in written communication.

0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.679
<v Speaker 1>When you're talking, you can raise your voice or say

0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:39.120
<v Speaker 1>words differently to show what you really mean. People attempt

0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.440
<v Speaker 1>to compensate in emails, which is why there are a

0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:47.319
<v Speaker 1>lot of exclamation points these days. As to one rights, today,

0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:53.680
<v Speaker 1>exclamation points arranged throughout texts and emails convey friendliness. Indeed,

0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.880
<v Speaker 1>she writes, they have become so obligatory in emails that

0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.600
<v Speaker 1>you risk coming off as brusque or cold if you

0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:04.120
<v Speaker 1>fail to use them. We also live in a distracted world,

0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.280
<v Speaker 1>and people might think that more exclamation points will help

0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:14.160
<v Speaker 1>capture people's attention. But really four exclamation points or five

0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 1>or six is just silly. It can come across as screaming,

0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.640
<v Speaker 1>and it can look like a gigantic fence in the

0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.960
<v Speaker 1>middle of your emails. And hey, if you use three

0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.560
<v Speaker 1>in this sentence and four in another, how am I

0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:35.800
<v Speaker 1>supposed to interpret that best? To avoid the inflation, rights

0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.200
<v Speaker 1>to one, you should use them judiciously, since in serious

0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.720
<v Speaker 1>situations they can be interpreted as overly intense and even immature.

0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:51.720
<v Speaker 1>Who wants that not you so followed this rule, one

0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.920
<v Speaker 1>exclamation point is enough. If you find yourself wanting to

0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.359
<v Speaker 1>use two in a particular sentence, then go back through

0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.400
<v Speaker 1>your note and remove some from elsewhere, so using one

0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.280
<v Speaker 1>still conveys the emphasis. You can also try to rewrite

0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.639
<v Speaker 1>to make your point with words. We say things like

0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.839
<v Speaker 1>the market crashed rather than the market fell very very,

0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.000
<v Speaker 1>very very fast, and you should think the same with punctuation.

0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.560
<v Speaker 1>I need this tomorrow by ten am. I will check

0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.440
<v Speaker 1>in at four pm today to make sure we are

0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.760
<v Speaker 1>still on track. Is much better than I need this

0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:38.680
<v Speaker 1>fast with four exclamation points. So today, try to turn

0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:43.120
<v Speaker 1>down your exclamation point usage a bit. If you never

0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.960
<v Speaker 1>use them, well, you can liven up a little. We

0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:50.920
<v Speaker 1>do live in a casual age when even serious people

0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:55.920
<v Speaker 1>use emojis. But like all forceful language, exclamation points do

0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.640
<v Speaker 1>more when we expect them to do less. Best to

0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:05.720
<v Speaker 1>stay to one. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks

0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.640
<v Speaker 1>for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.920
<v Speaker 1>Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can

0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.400
<v Speaker 1>send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just

0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.360
<v Speaker 1>connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before

0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:31.440
<v Speaker 1>Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four then breakfast

0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.599
<v Speaker 1>p O D. You can also shoot me an email

0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.520
<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com

0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.040
<v Speaker 1>That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.720
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch

0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.680
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.800
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.240
<v Speaker 1>Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:00.960
<v Speaker 1>favorite shows. WA