#davesdailychallenge (155): Make An Impact. In today’s world of extreme information saturation (note that I didn’t say intelligence) it is more important than ever to make an impact with your chosen message. I am affected by this all the time. I consistently create original, and what I’d like to tell myself is highly valuable, content that I know many people don’t read. Even the people I’m secretly writing it for. The process of gaining and maintaining followers or “consumers” of your messages, whether they be in the form of social media posts, YouTube videos, or long form content is very difficult. There has never been more competition for your attention and many people and brands will do anything they can to get you to stop for just a few seconds and look at what they want to put in front of you. I sometimes spend weeks crafting an important message into a singular paragraph that I can publish. That message competes with the snapchat feed of your high school friend and the animal stickers that she put on her kid’s faces. Don’t even get me started on face swap. I discuss this with you here today because it’s something that I absolutely need to improve upon. I want to maintain my authenticity and not succumb to the clarion call of clickbait but I also can’t reach my goals if you don’t stop that thumb of yours from scrolling to the next thing on your screen. I have to attach the information I am publishing to an emotion. This is why I try so hard to make my writing personal. I know for a fact that I will not reach every single person with every single piece. In fact, if I try to reach all of you I’ll reach none of you because the message will become so diluted that it will no longer strike an emotional nerve with anyone. So, the next time you’re giving a presentation, writing a letter, selling a product or idea, discussing something with your significant other, or trying to con your buddy into accepting that fantasy football trade remember that you have to attach emotion to the information you are transmitting. Without that, nothing will be retained and the endless supply of attention grabbing headlines will immediately bury your message.