How much do you know about your own MindSkills? If you’re wondering that they’re two words and not one, you’re in the right place. Yes, MindSkills is mind skills. But it’s also so much more than another casual compound word—MindSkills are the fundamental forces that drive us to be who we are. To learn more about MindSkills and how they relate to Twitter, we invited George Silverman, the MindSkills guy. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: George Silverman
Topic: Using MindSkills to improve your Twitter presence
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
As the name implies, MindSkills refers to the methods we use for thinking, feeling, and behaving effectively in our environment.
A1 MindSkills are your methods for thinking, feeling and acting effectively. They are the universal thinking patterns that cut across all areas of your life. They are most responsible for your success and happiness. Most important ones for people on Twitter are … #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/KNRWMB5w05
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Though individual strategies and processes may vary, the term MindSkills relates to universal comprehension concepts we all use in order to be better at what be do and achieve our goals. These include critical thinking, reading, writing, teaching, problem-solving, emotion, time, and relationship management.
A1 Examples of the main ones: goal-setting, problem-solving, decision-making, implementing, emotional management, relationship management. #TwitterSmarter
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
As Alyx put it, MindSkills is also a broader term encompassing the skills and tools you can develop as an individual to enhance your lifestyle. Examples of this include having a learner’s mindset and being willing to share ideas with others.
A1 Yes, and not just thinking.
Also emotional management and regulation of behavior. #TwitterSmarter— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
MindSkills matter because Twitter is fundamentally a communication platform. Cultivating your MindSkills will help you set goals and create a strategy around what you communicate, why it matters to you, and how well you do it. George has also written a playbook on MindSkills and how you can hone yours. Check it out here: https://publish.obsidian.md/mindskills-playbook/_MindSkills+Playbook/Welcome+to+the+MindSkills+Playbook
A lot of you liked this Tweet. Thanks for the feedback. For more on MindSkills:
See The MindSkills Playbook: https://t.co/Anc3Y7lqyw.
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Madalyn mentioned some specific ways MindSkills can help improve your Twitter presence. Being aware of your MindSkills and actively working on them helps you listen to what your audience really wants from you. It’ll help you create more relevant content, resonate with your target audience, and build lasting friendships on the platform.
A2: MindSkills can help you have a better experience on Twitter as you’re establishing your presence on the platform. They can help you create better content, nurture relationships with others, and more. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/qPJoAphDu4
— MadalynSklar.eth Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) March 3, 2022
Apart from the ones we covered in Q1, George also emphasized the importance of offering value concisely, having an open mindset to experiment, take risks, and make mistakes.
A3/ Pithiness: The ability to get to the point, being both concise and with valuable content. #TwitterSmarter
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Additionally, our guest also pointed out that being true to who you are as a person without getting caught up in changing trends and keeping inner creativity alive are essential skills to becoming a memorable communicator.
Creativity: The ability to combine your ideas into new combinations, and/or apply them to new circumstances. #TwitterSmarter
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Pavel and our friends from VirtuDesk added a bunch of other skills essential for good communication on Twitter. These include copywriting, organizational skills, analytical skills, resourcefulness, and providing empathic customer service.
A3: I agree with @virtudeskcom. I'll be adding customer service too. #TwitterSmarter
— Pavel Stepanov (@pavelStepanov77) March 3, 2022
There’s a lot of overlap between the skills you need to write a tweet and speak in a Space. You have to be clear and concise in both cases, however, when you’re speaking you also have to think on your feet and organize your thought process coherently and sequentially.
A4 The ability to be concise is central to both.
When you speak, you can only make one or two points, in a few seconds to have an impact. And you can't edit and polish. So you have to have an even higher degree of clarity. ,ts— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Not everyone is eloquent—as you may have noticed if you’ve been on Spaces. Some people tend to blather on, as Christine put it because you can get away with talking a lot without saying anything on Spaces. That’s why it’s important to be conscious of other people’s time when you’re speaking.
A4.
When tweeting, the need to be concise is built into the platform.
In Spaces people tend to blather on. Be contentious of valuing people’s time and attention.#TwitterSmarter— Christine Gritmon ❤️ #ChatAboutBrand (@cgritmon) March 3, 2022
On the other hand, as our friends from Biteable explained, when you’re speaking, you can alter your tone and tenor to convey your intentions rather easily. When you’re writing, though, because you don’t have those social cues, you have to put in extra effort to ensure your tweet isn’t open to too much interpretation.
A4. Definitely! With tweets, you need to make sure you're writing is clear and concise. You can't rely on tone or body language to help convey your message. #TwitterSmarter
— Biteable (@biteable) March 3, 2022
Twitter Spaces can be an excellent way to sharpen the various parts of your cognitive ability to improve your communication, as our friends from Clover Media explained. For instance, being in Spaces forces you to listen carefully, process what the other person is saying, and formulate a response in your head before delivering it. This exercise boosts your ability to pay attention to and comprehend dynamic interactions.
A5. With Spaces, it can help your auditory processing, selective attention, sustained attention & processing speed. Each of these MindSkills reflects a different method that your brain uses to effectively interpret & use information #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/sbGJmyE3HM
— Clover Media (@clovermediahq) March 3, 2022
As Dana also pointed out, Twitter Spaces will keep your mind on its feet (that’s a weird thing to say). Because topics can branch into subtopics or change track entirely at any minute, Spaces is a good way to train your mind to be alert and attuned to its surroundings.
A5. Twitter Spaces can be a workout for MindSkills, since topics can change on a moment’s notice. You have to be ready for that, so you’ll draw on your MindSkills. #TwitterSmarter
— Dana Lemaster (@DanaLemaster) March 3, 2022
Twitter is an ideal place to improve MindSkills because you get instant feedback on Twitter. By nature, the platform is designed for back-and-forth spontaneous interactions. And so you get to see how people react and respond to you, and you can use that as a practicing ground to improve your own ways of reacting and responding to others.
A6 Whatever MindSkill you are practicing, you can level it up by interacting with other people. You can see what resonates. What people value. How to word things. There is little learning without feedback, and Twitter is a personal Focus Group. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/kDI7seu44Z
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Julie from Nimble also reminded us that Twitter is a good place to learn to listen more actively and be open and adapt to changes as they come.
A6: You have to practice being concise, listening proactively, and adapting to changes consistently ~Julie #TwitterSmarter
— Nimble (@Nimble) March 3, 2022
Have a look through George’s MindSkills playbook—it’s a living document, which means that it’s never really finished writing. He continuously updates it and adds to it, making sure that it stays relevant in our changing world. You can also join his Twitter Community to learn more about developing your MindSkills. Our guest also suggested tools like Obsidian and logseq that encourage you to introspect and improve your thought processes.
A7a Start using one of the so-called Tools for Thought. I highly recommend Obsidian @obsdmd and logseq @logseq, which I use simultaneously and interoperatively. They will increase your creativity by surfacing older fleeting thoughts in new combinations. #TwitterSmarter
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Sruthi made a good point too: one of the best ways to develop your MindSkills is to seek feedback from those who want to critique you and genuinely see you improve. That’s your friends and family. They’ll notice things you won’t—get their feedback and work on it.
A7 Asking your closest friends, associates and family, for a true feedback on your improvement areas in line with the goals you wish to achieve #TwitterSmarter
— Shruti Deshpande (@shruti12d) March 3, 2022
Some of the core principles of MindSkills are universal, as we discussed before. However, we all see the world differently and process things uniquely. How we incorporate MindSkills into our lives and how we combine them depends on our personal interests, capabilities, and purposes. As George said, think of it as making a soup rather than baking a cake.
A8 The same basic ones like goal-setting, problem-solving, and decision-making, but in unique combinations and styles that fit your natural abilities and interests. It's a very flexible system, using frameworks, not rigid recipes. More like soup-making than baking #TwitterSmarter
— George, The MindSkills Guy™ (@GeorgeSilverman) March 3, 2022
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks a lot for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with George, have a look at this Twitter thread. If you think this summary is pretty good, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us every Thursday at 1pm ET on #TwitterSmarter. We also hang out on Twitter Spaces at 5pm ET to continue our chat. Catch you there!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—marketing stuff for the bills; haiku and short stories for the soul. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.
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