Do you write with fresh chilli? Or that stale old stuff from the cupboard?

I suggest to clients that they should have three things ready to say when somebody asks: "So what do you actually do?"

1. A one line version, in words their mum would understand
2. A recent story that begins: "So, for example..."
3. And if they're working in a complex field, a good metaphor.

When we read or hear words, our brains process the meaning by running an "embodied simulation" of what's being described. That's great if you're a firefighter: tell us what you do for a living, and we've got a surround-sound movie playing in our heads. Better still, describe kicking down a door and rescuing a puppy from a burning building, and the motor neurons in our brain fire up as if WE were DOING it too, not just watching.

How do you get a movie playing in someone's head?

But what if you're an economist who analyses marketing data (to pick a random example)? How do you get a movie playing in somebody's head? Well, this is where your "for example..." story helps. You can talk about doing something specific for someone specific and we will run a simulation (ok, it won't be as exciting a movie as Towering Inferno, but we can't all be firefighters).

Or you can use a good metaphor. We use metaphors all the time. I'll use FOUR metaphors by the end of this article (see below). Brain scan research shows that the motor neurons controlling your hands fire up if I tell you to "grasp the nettle." The trouble is, we get lazy and end up using cliches (like "grasp the nettle"). The same researchers found that familiar metaphors create less brain activity than fresh, new metaphors.

Metaphors have a career. Retire yours before they get too old.

It turns out that metaphors have a "neural career", getting steadily less powerful as they get older.* You need to retire your metaphors before they get too old and turn into cliches. Just like cooking with chillies: if you want to pack a punch, use fresh chillies, not that stale old powder from the back of your cupboard.

So, you need a metaphor to explain your work - and you need to make sure it's fresh. What about our marketing data analyst, what metaphor could she use? I often think of data as like a crime scene, with clues scattered and hidden all about. A good data analyst is like CSI, bringing in tools that allow her to see things others miss.

I have a theory for how you can generate your own fresh metaphors: a kind of metaphor engine. If you're interested - if you need a bit of fresh chilli in your writing - click here.

Today's principal metaphors:

1. When your brain processes meaning, there's a movie playing in your head.
2. Using original phrases is cooking with fresh chillies, not stale powder.
3. Retire your old cliches, they're not working hard enough for you.
4. Data analysts are crime scene detectives, CSI Economist.

*The very latest science on how our brains make meaning: Louder than Words, by Benjamin Bergen.