Page 169 - Effective Communication Skills Mastery Bible 4 Books in 1 Boxset by Tuhovsky, Ian

Chapter 15:

How to Use Metaphors to

Communicate Better

O ur daily conversations are stuffed with this

remarkable linguistic structure. On average, during

one minute of spoken language, we usually use as

many as six metaphors. Once you learn to notice metaphors

among other people’s words, magical things start to happen.

The ability to refer to metaphors in daily conversation gives

you many great new possibilities: everything from changing
other people’s beliefs or solving their problems, to inducing

laughter or motivation. In this chapter I will show you how to

navigate among metaphors during your usual conversations,

coaching sessions or even business negotiations.

Metaphors vs. Logical Mind

Imagine that your friend says: “My business is not taking

off!” As long as this person is not actually a pilot or airline

owner, they’re referring to a specific event or situation in their

life. Maybe you could simply ignore the metaphor and just

ask, “What do you mean?” However, getting very clear
information about how this problem is represented in their

mind and then relating to this specific metaphor gives a much

better effect. Why? Because then their logical mind doesn’t get

into action, ruining all your efforts.