Learn to Write Properly, Speak Plainly & Read Well

By | April 24, 2022

[April 24, 2022]  Practice your words; it is the most powerful thing about you.  Learn to write properly, speak plainly, and read well.  That is the most powerful thing you can do.

A purpose of a proper childhood upbringing and a formal education system is to teach us to think.  Thinking makes you act correctly in the world.  Thinking helps you win the battles of your life.  If you can read and write and speak, you cannot be defeated.  Nothing can keep you from success.  This old idea that good thinking can rescue us from the depths of failure is no theory.

That is why writing is so important.  To write is the most powerful weapon you can possibly have in your rucksack of tools.  If you can write well, make a presentation, lay out a proposal, a logical argument, and formulate your arguments coherently, people will give you money and opportunities beyond your dreams.  You will gain influence and capabilities more incredible than your imagination.

You learn to think best by writing and speaking.  The best thing a person can do is read and write and do it every day, at least a couple of hours of practice daily, even when your writing is poorly constructed.  Write about things you believe are necessary or of interest.  See if you can discover those things you believe to be true.  Practice builds you a robust foundation and is unbelievably helpful.  If you look at those remarkably successful folks, there are several reasons they are winners.  One primary reason is that they are especially good at articulating what they aim at, strategizing, negotiating, and enticing people with a vision forward.

Teaching people to speak plainly gives them the power to control their lives, which is highly motivating.  It is a mystery why this is not taught to children and young adults.

Get your words together for honest communication.  That makes you irresistible.  If you can communicate straightforwardly, you are unstoppable.  Learn to find your authentic voice.  Every time you deviate from an honest conversation you are having through lies and deceit, you corrupt yourself.  When you can formulate your arguments, that becomes a part of how you view the world.  It guides your future actions.  Work in a dedicated way to become as articulate and clear as possible.  There is nothing more practical and noble.

Someone once said that reading good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of the past.  If you can read well, and you practice reading daily and put forward the proper motivation in yourself to understand as much as you can, then you can be and do whatever you wish.  Those who succeed can never avoid reading; it is where the spark for innovation and greatness lies. You already know how to be ordinary in ordinary times.  Be unordinary; read as if your life depended upon it.  It does.

If you learn to read well, write properly, and speak plainly, you are headed for success in whatever you decide to do.

—————

Please read my new book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).

Author: Douglas R. Satterfield

Hello. I provide one article every day. My writings are influenced by great thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Jung, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Jean Piaget, Erich Neumann, and Jordan Peterson, whose insight and brilliance have gotten millions worldwide to think about improving ourselves. Thank you for reading my blog.

23 thoughts on “Learn to Write Properly, Speak Plainly & Read Well

  1. Jerome Smith

    That would require “work” and that is a dirty word to many. You are taught from grade school on that you are the best thing since sliced bread and are exempt from the rules. Why work when you can have it handed to you? The problem is that this does not work.

    Reply
    1. Doug Smith

      Got that right Jerome. And we are ENCOURAGING this kind of thinking. I wonder why? Politicians giving out free stuff to buy votes. I’m not for sale.

      Reply
  2. KenFBrown

    These are the skills of the ancient past. Or so we are told by teachers.

    Reply
  3. Harry Man

    Writing helps you to persuade people. It helps you to influence other people about your point of view, writing has the capability to change the mindset of people, Writing is a skill which has the power to change the world and has the power to change negative mindset to positive, writing has helped our country and this world since very long, Writing played an important role in our Country’s Independence.

    Reply
    1. Andrew Dooley

      Written communication is an exceptional characteristic of the human species. Over hundreds of years, writing has helped individuals to inform, collaborate and alert other, while societies benefitted from written history, culture and knowledge. In our time, how you successfully use the gift of writing, depends on you. Writing is a life skill, not only an essential job-related skill, because it is often the basis upon which others judge your learning, your values, your ideas and your contribution to society.

      Reply
  4. JT Patterson

    Parents are those directly responsible to ensure their kids are properly educated. BUT, we no longer have ‘parents’ – now just single moms who don’t give a crap about their kids.

    Reply
  5. Audrey

    Teachers are beholden to teacher unions which do NOT have the children in their best interests but power to get more days off and more pay and less time in the classroom. Our teachers unions are corrupt to the core.

    Reply
      1. Tom Bushmaster

        Are teacher’s unions the most corrupt unions in American society? The MOST corrupt? I don’t think so, but they’re the only unions that are able to hold children hostage and do so on a regular basis, any time their greed outpaces the increased taxes collected by local governments to pay for the abysmal “education” many students have forced upon them.

        Reply
        1. old warrior

          They no longer teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Nuff said.

          Reply
        2. Bryan Z. Lee

          Today’s teachers are interested in teaching 5 and 6 year olds how to be transgender or CRT theory. Corrupt is too weak of a word. Evil is better word to describe teaching today. The pandemic brought their corruption to the knowledge of us all. Now is time to take actions.

          Reply
  6. Rusty D

    “Practice your words; it is the most powerful thing about you. Learn to write properly, speak plainly, and read well. That is the most powerful thing you can do.” Great comment, Gen. Satterfield.

    Reply
  7. Doc Blackshear

    Support the youth, teach them that reading, writing, and speaking (properly) is the key to success in their lifetime.

    Reply
    1. Linux Man

      Many will read what you wrote and say that this is an old, antiquated, no longer useful idea. Why learn to read. Let the government experts tell us what is important.

      Reply
  8. Unwoke Dude

    Gen. Satterfield is writing about the most powerful things that we can teach kids today. Young adults should also pay attention. I don’t know where I read it, but I hear that young folks are reading less and less today than in any other generation. That’s scary because we are raising stupid people and they will eventually be in charge.

    Reply
  9. Frankie Boy

    Today, we no longer teach the basics. We teach that slang, cussing, ghetto lingo, and other variations on basic English is “racist,” encouraging another generation to speak stupidly and not be understood.

    Reply
    1. Army Captain

      Slang has always been a problem, along with acronyms and other shortcuts in language. They will not go away, and that is why leaders at all levels must insist on consistent use of words and their meanings.

      Reply
      1. Harry Donner

        Yes, and also parents of small children should insist they use proper English. That is how you succeed in the world.

        Reply
      2. American Girl

        That is exactly the problem we have with our public school systems. Little is going to change it until we get a political body of realistic folks who are interested in the best for ALL Americans and not pander to a few who have big mouths and work the keyboard in the basement of their mom (note I did not include dad in that sentence).

        Reply
        1. Dead Pool Guy

          Right, if there were a father in the house, this wouldn’t be happening. Exactly what happens when you reject dads as a source of good in the world. Now we reap what we sow.

          Reply
      1. Willie Strumburger

        Gen. Satterfield, another great article that should be read for and wide for the wisdom you show. Sadly, most will never even want to understand the import of reading and writing. Learning to speak is not even on the table to improve any more. Blame parents and teachers and politicians who pander to them.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.