A good analogy acts like a bridge for what you’re trying to communicate.
It’s a key to unlock connections for your listeners, and then to open their hearts.
It’s the ultimate gift, a sort of Trojan horse.
It’s a uranium-tipped mimetic munition that will make a permanent impact where other ideas just bounce off.
It’s an ideavirus that will enable your message to spread across the internet like warm hydrogenated vegetable oil spread on a piece of crustless Wonder White…
Away with words
If you’re good at talking, you might get away with making up your analogies on the spot.
Improvisation can be magical, but if you were less good you might be more cautious, think harder ahead of time, road test a few metaphors and come up with something that worked much better.
Something that:
- Communicates the main structure of the idea you’re trying to share without obvious holes
- Isn’t unwittingly ridiculous or offensive
- Is emotionally resonant in a way that supports your purpose
- Is memorable enough that it sticks
- Is pithy enough that it gets shared.
You may have to face the music for your choice of analogy. Know what kind of fight you’re going to and arm yourself accordionly.