by Kate Koronis | Jul 24, 2026 | Article, Featured
Lasting influence depends on communication, but communication depends on something deeper: an organized mind. Before we learn to speak well, we must learn to think well.
The difficulty in expressing one’s thoughts, in finding arguments to defend the position, or even to form it, in listening to other people’s arguments, and in producing counterarguments are signs of an unorganized mind. Education is supposed to sort this issue out, but conventional education is rarely capable of doing it. Traditional education often develops literacy and subject knowledge, but it rarely teaches students how to organize complex thoughts, construct arguments, examine opposing views, and communicate ideas persuasively.
People who received a generic education struggle to communicate. Our timelines are filled with people who are struggling to express their thoughts. It becomes a problem for those who want to become influencers, thought leaders, and authors, because influence requires communication. Communication is not the ability to produce words. It is the ability to transmit organized thought. The quality of communication depends primarily on the quality of thinking behind it.
Communication skills are a byproduct of an organized mind, but not a guarantee of excellence in communication. An organized mind is the foundation of communication skills. Communication itself still requires deliberate practice, but without organized thinking, that practice produces style without substance. An organized mind is one that can distinguish facts from opinions, recognize assumptions, arrange ideas logically, support claims with evidence, anticipate objections, and explain conclusions clearly. Only organized thinking can sustain meaningful communication. However, nowadays we find ourselves in a situation where the emphasis is placed more on communication techniques than on the foundations of communication – the thought process.
Neither organized thinking nor communication skills appear overnight, just like no one becomes literate instantly.
We are not born with a special gift to communicate and the ability to think clearly – it is a result of an education (self-education) process.
History knows people with speech difficulties who were great communicators. Take, for example, Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf. Helen Keller reminds us that communication is not fundamentally about speech. It is about conveying meaning. Despite being unable to see or hear, she became an author, speaker, and activist because her ideas were worth communicating. Her success was impossible without organized thought.
Yes, some people can find it easier to articulate their thoughts; others will find it extremely challenging, but every one of us can decide to build necessary skills and achieve the goal of becoming a charismatic speaker, author, and brilliant communicator.
Where does a person desiring to learn organized thinking and communication start? You start with clarity in the subject you want to communicate. Understanding your topic, passion, and convictions is best to begin with. The next step will be finding arguments that strengthen the position. Then understand counterarguments and how to respond to them in multiple ways. This is called the organization of one’s mind. We start with one topic and gradually expand to other areas of our interests and life.
After organizing thoughts around one specific area, we can start training ourselves to share them. I think the best way to express thoughts at the start is to talk on camera. It allows us to feel more secure than if we spoke in front of a live audience and to take enough time to prepare, analyse outcomes, and improve. Later, we can move to public speaking in friendly and familiar environments. After that, the next step is to try speaking to an unfamiliar but welcoming and understanding audience. This should be followed by communicating with an audience with opposite views.
Communication skills development should be gradual and in this order. Many people possess clearer ideas than they can express because fear interrupts retrieval, organization, and articulation. It comes from sharing raw ideas with an unwelcoming audience and an audience with opposite views too early. The lack of proper conditions was the reason many of us never progressed in forming and expressing our thoughts. Critical parents and siblings, bullying at school, and dominating bosses and coworkers later convinced us that we should not speak out. Thus, there was no need to train articulation.
Now, in the era of influence marketing and personal branding, communication is a must-have for those who want to share ideas, attract customers, and build followership. Many of those appearing in our timelines are unable to express their thoughts, and they have no idea how bad their communication is, and how undeveloped their ideas are. They are often told to just keep producing content. Practice improves fluency. It does not automatically improve thinking. Repeating poorly organized ideas simply makes someone more fluent at expressing confusion. We have to start with the organization of the mind. And that is what many coaches and personal brand advocates are missing.
The influence does not start with posts. The impact does not begin with recording yourself on camera.
Just like one of the greatest mentors of the ancient world, Apostle Paul, spoke of love, saying that a declaration of love without its foundational attributes sounds like the clanging of cymbals – empty – today we can say that without thought organization, all speeches, preaching, keynotes, posts, articles, podcasts, YouTube videos are empty sounds.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal
Apostle Paul ( Bible, 1st Corinthians 13:1)
This phrase is followed by the main attributes of love. Paul did not merely define love in one sentence. He unpacked it through a series of carefully distinguished characteristics. Whether one approaches the passage theologically or rhetorically, it illustrates organized thinking applied to a profound idea. Paul seemed to have invested in the idea of love if he came up with sixteen different attributes. It required time and organized thinking to compose what we know of today as the “Hymn of Love”.
We can become very productive today with the use of AI. It can compile more attributes of love, crafted better than Paul’s. But it doesn’t make an “author” of the prompt a better thinker. AI can help organize our thoughts, but in most cases it just overwhelms us or covers up for our inability to think. If I can use all the AI in the world, it does not make me a great thinker and communicator. It does not make me even an average one. But understanding how to organize our own minds takes the work with AI to a totally new level.
We often think that influence starts with publishing and promotion of our content. It doesn’t. The influence begins when we discipline our minds to organize ideas and communicate them clearly. Every article, post, book, YouTube video must start with an organization of our mind.
by Kate Koronis | Sep 17, 2025 | Featured, Write-up
Is it a secret that we are programmed on what to watch? And this is dangerous.
Have you ever noticed that we are instructed and guided by algorithms on YouTube and by program directors on TV on what we are going to watch? I bet you have. Even on a subscription model, like Netflix, you are guided by proposed videos. We are been programmed.
We are not making a choice. You might think that you do, because you are picking just one video from the variety, and you call it a choice. The reality is, if your video consumption is not aligned with your life’s goals and mission, you are not holding the steering wheel. You are a passenger.
The word passenger comes from Old French “passager ” – meaning passing, transitory.
People who are creating video content that we watch think less of where they will take you with their video, and more of how to increase their views or sell something to you. They might not even know that their videos are like a transport, that transitions you from one place to another. The funny part is that most of the viewers are not sure where they are going, so going anywhere is fine.
I love this scene from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. Alice was puzzled by the choice of roads to take. So, she asks the Cat:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
When we don’t care much which way to go, we will get somewhere if we walk long enough. And long enough means time. You will use a lot of time in your life to get somewhere.
But let us stop here for a minute and think: how much time are we talking about? For the past 3 years, I have been sure I have consumed approximately 5 hours a day on the bench watching videos. In 3 years, it is 5,475 hours. Now, where did I get with those hours invested in watching?
I assure you, I was not watching funny cats or soap operas. I watched what I call educational content: podcasts on success in different areas of life, political opinions, something inspirational, and less of tutorials. I thought those were productive videos. And if I had a product coming out of those 5K hours, then we all could agree that the watching time was productive. Instead, the videos just helped me to transition myself through life into “somewhere”.
No results to show for where I invested my time. I do have some political opinions, and I do have some understanding of those topics I have been interested to learn more about. But nothing in particular. Little bit here, little bit there. Collecting peanuts of positive results from my time investment.
Last summer, things changed. In the mentorship program of Dr. Sunday Adelaja, I had a task to watch a series of teachings on faith. Not that I was interested in the topic much, but the program is a program. So I watched approximately 10 videos until my perspective of my life totally changed.
I have taken so much value out of these videos that my days have stopped passing unnoticed. Every day brings me results in the areas where I pursue outcomes of my efforts. I was amazed by the impact.
It made me think: why would I spend time watching anything that does not have such a positive influence on my life? It also got me thinking of what influence I actually want to have.
Where do I go?
Where do I want to arrive?
And what content will take me there?
After taking some time to recalibrate my life’s focus, I came to the conclusion that watching habits have to abide by specific rules. My rules. Because it is my life and I am the one to decide which algorithms will govern it. Here are the rules.
Scrolling is a No-No
Goal-oriented people don’t wander anywhere to get somewhere. Scrolling is wandering. Like a social media slot machine I wrote about earlier. Stop scrolling. This has to be a one-and-forever decision: “From now on I don’t scroll. Full stop”.
Just like with any addiction, the scrolling habit can’t be negotiated. Thoughts like:
• I’ll scroll for the last time
• I’ll scroll just a few minutes, hours a day
• I’ll scroll only on Sundays
• I’ll scroll only if I am stuck in the queue with nothing to do
Cut it off.
There should not be “I’ll scroll” anymore.
I know it sounds radical. And maybe you feel like it is too much, or maybe your profession is somehow connected to being up to date with platforms. I know. I am a marketer. I need to understand how algorithms work. I need to know what is in the timeline. But the cost of 5K hours in 3 years is too high. I’d better find other ways of being up to date with the system I use for my professional goals. Same in your case. Think of the cost and ask yourself if you are ok to pay it.
Have a plan
Research what is it beneficial for you to watch. Make a playlist. Add the links to your notes and only watch what is in your list. You are the master of your time, not the algorithm. So, you have to come up with a system that will allow you to have easy and quick access to your playlists. Think of a few steps or clicks only. If the process of getting to your list of videos will be more than that, you will be sucked in by the algorithms that ensure easy access.
Beware of seduction
The platforms we use daily, like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok, can be avoided totally. But if it can’t happen due to your work requirements or other reasons, ensure you have a protocol that helps you to react to the algorithm trying to take you in the direction you did not plan. Here is an example.
Imagine you are watching the playlist you have compiled. The platform will make some suggestions to you of similar videos or it “thinks” you might like based on your consumption history. Having a protocol means you know what to do when the algorithm is trying to seduce you into unplanned consumption.
Protocols consist of rules and steps. Here is one you can use in a situation when you see an interesting but unplanned video.
- Resist the urge to watch the video now (even for a minute)
- Add this video to a “Watch later playlist” or a custom playlist. All platforms have a functionality to create custom lists.
- If you added the video into a general “Watch later”, have a habit of weekly reviewing the list and redistributing the videos to custom lists according to the topics.
- Make custom lists easily accessible. For example, add references to your Notes app that is synchronized across your devices.
- Watch the playlists freely. It is your planned content.
Make the best out of it
Don’t just watch. Have a rule to take one or two lessons from each video you watch. This will allow you to be critical of the information you consume in the sense that you will analyse the content that benefits your goals.
Thinking of the next step you will take after watching any video, which is an analysis, will help you not watch to just waste time. You will invest time. But also, you will stop watching a video that is clearly not benefiting you and save your time.
Next steps
Think through the rules and how they benefit you. If you will be able to envision yourself practicing it, it will work for you. If you start without letting this information sink in your head, there will be no conviction for you to abide by these rules. You must convince yourself of why these rules are lifesaving.
And I say “lifesaving” again. Because 5 thousand hours is 228 days. Would you be willing to invest this time wisely? Never watch a video if..
