Make it concrete
Not literally concrete, though. (Image credit)
So many beautiful songs are built out of gorgeously layered metaphors.
"I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it." Thank you, Zimmy, for that one.
That's so often what we want out of our songs. Even when they tell a true story, it feels like allegory, not a news article ("The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead/When the skies of November turn gloomy"). Songwriters can take the specific and make it universal, and we feel an emotional connection that transcends the words.
When it comes to problem-solving, my friends, we have to do the exact opposite. We have to take a vague feeling and get specific and concrete. We begin with an emotion and then figure out what's behind it.
It makes sense that we begin with metaphorical language to talk about our inner life, hopes, and dreams. An impulse that transforms us doesn't necessarily show up as a rational thought. We then translate this impulse into words, however imperfectly, and refine from there.
When we leave our words in the realm of metaphor, however, we might not see how to move forward. Shifting to literal, practical language can help make the path clear — or, to practice what I'm preaching and make it concrete, we will be able to see exactly what we're supposed to do next.
For example, suppose I'm experiencing feelings of overwhelm. Identifying this, I might say something like, "I feel like I have so many thoughts flying around my head that I can't grab ahold of any of them!"
A next step, once I've articulated this, might be to determine what it would actually mean to "grab ahold" of a thought. Do I want to take the time to reflect on it? Acknowledge it and remember it later? Write it down? Once I figure out what a solution looks like, I'll be closer to making it happen.
What if I'm "pushing myself too hard?" We think we know what that means, but it's actually a metaphor. For what? Not sleeping enough? Doing too much work? Going too fast? Getting angry at myself for making mistakes? These are different problems. Using concrete language will help me to figure out which one I have.
Communicating in concrete language can be painfully direct, but it reduces the chance of misunderstanding. Saying, "I feel like I never know which end is up with you," comes off really different from, "You frequently change plans on short notice, and it confuses and frustrates me," even though the two scripts convey similar sentiments. The latter, in my view, is much more powerful (although it would be a worse song lyric).
In my coaching work, I'm constantly on the lookout for metaphors that could be made concrete. Having already done the hard work of identifying the emotion we're feeling, we can poke around inside the metaphorical language to find the plain truth of the situation (and often, what needs to be done about it). It's a shortcut that allows us to make use of the wisdom and knowledge we already have.
Translating our metaphors and clichés into literal language may eliminate a bit of poetry from our lives, but there is still an elegance to what's left over. We will be sure that we're on track and firing on all cylinders — or, in concrete terms, confidently achieving what we set out to do, and doing it well.
