How To Be Cliche

How To Be Cliche I was reading a blog post this morning about Chinas Silicon Valley when a certain phrase caught my eye: PG’s strategy conforms nicely with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s plan, announced in 2006, to turn China into an â€Å"innovation-oriented† country by 2021. (go to the post here) Doesnt every countrys president want their country to be innovation-oriented? Is this really news, or a big deal? Or is it just, well, noise? Im not bashing China, or their strategy (or the fact that they hope it happens in the next 14 years), but this sounds like tired talk to me. It sounds like rhetoric. It is too cliche. Check out the first definition of cliche from dictionary.com: So are you cliche? Do you have a tired, boring or over-used statement, phrase, or pitch? Ive found it hard to come up with personal elevator pitches because I feel like Im trying to jam as many cliche things into 30 seconds as possible. Something like this: With over 10 years in the internet industry I have the experience to help your company reach its goals. I like to do things on time and under budget. I do it right the first time. I have received 14 employee of the month awards. References available upon request blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Doesnt that pain you just reading it? So how do you become less cliche, and more interesting?? If this is your problem I recommend you go to the library and pick up Brag! If you dont have time, figure out how you can incorporate really interesting stories into your communication. When I was at a convention recently and people asked so what is JibberJobber I started my response like this: When I was laid off last year I used an Excel spreadsheet to manage my job search. When I got over 100 companies I outgrew what Excel could do for me and I realized that all of this information would be great to really keep and grow during my career (since Ill change jobs every 3 5 years). So It was story-based, hopefully not overused. How do you keep from being cliche? Or what are the cliche things that you are TIRED of hearing? How To Be Cliche I was reading a blog post this morning about Chinas Silicon Valley when a certain phrase caught my eye: PG’s strategy conforms nicely with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s plan, announced in 2006, to turn China into an â€Å"innovation-oriented† country by 2021. (go to the post here) Doesnt every countrys president want their country to be innovation-oriented? Is this really news, or a big deal? Or is it just, well, noise? Im not bashing China, or their strategy (or the fact that they hope it happens in the next 14 years), but this sounds like tired talk to me. It sounds like rhetoric. It is too cliche. Check out the first definition of cliche from dictionary.com: So are you cliche? Do you have a tired, boring or over-used statement, phrase, or pitch? Ive found it hard to come up with personal elevator pitches because I feel like Im trying to jam as many cliche things into 30 seconds as possible. Something like this: With over 10 years in the internet industry I have the experience to help your company reach its goals. I like to do things on time and under budget. I do it right the first time. I have received 14 employee of the month awards. References available upon request blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Doesnt that pain you just reading it? So how do you become less cliche, and more interesting?? If this is your problem I recommend you go to the library and pick up Brag! If you dont have time, figure out how you can incorporate really interesting stories into your communication. When I was at a convention recently and people asked so what is JibberJobber I started my response like this: When I was laid off last year I used an Excel spreadsheet to manage my job search. When I got over 100 companies I outgrew what Excel could do for me and I realized that all of this information would be great to really keep and grow during my career (since Ill change jobs every 3 5 years). So It was story-based, hopefully not overused. How do you keep from being cliche? Or what are the cliche things that you are TIRED of hearing? How To Be Cliche I was reading a blog post this morning about Chinas Silicon Valley when a certain phrase caught my eye: PG’s strategy conforms nicely with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s plan, announced in 2006, to turn China into an â€Å"innovation-oriented† country by 2021. (go to the post here) Doesnt every countrys president want their country to be innovation-oriented? Is this really news, or a big deal? Or is it just, well, noise? Im not bashing China, or their strategy (or the fact that they hope it happens in the next 14 years), but this sounds like tired talk to me. It sounds like rhetoric. It is too cliche. Check out the first definition of cliche from dictionary.com: So are you cliche? Do you have a tired, boring or over-used statement, phrase, or pitch? Ive found it hard to come up with personal elevator pitches because I feel like Im trying to jam as many cliche things into 30 seconds as possible. Something like this: With over 10 years in the internet industry I have the experience to help your company reach its goals. I like to do things on time and under budget. I do it right the first time. I have received 14 employee of the month awards. References available upon request blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Doesnt that pain you just reading it? So how do you become less cliche, and more interesting?? If this is your problem I recommend you go to the library and pick up Brag! If you dont have time, figure out how you can incorporate really interesting stories into your communication. When I was at a convention recently and people asked so what is JibberJobber I started my response like this: When I was laid off last year I used an Excel spreadsheet to manage my job search. When I got over 100 companies I outgrew what Excel could do for me and I realized that all of this information would be great to really keep and grow during my career (since Ill change jobs every 3 5 years). So It was story-based, hopefully not overused. How do you keep from being cliche? Or what are the cliche things that you are TIRED of hearing?