This is a book I would highly recommend to any preacher or teacher. It is about why there are some messages or ideas that you heard even 10 years ago that are fresh in your mind, but other messages even yesterday that you cannot recall a thing.
The authors of this book establish six characteristics of messages or ideas that "stick". They use a simple acrostic SUCCES. SUCCES stands for Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotional, and Stories. Using these concepts effectively will dramatically improve the ability to drive your idea home.
One concept I was able to identify with was what the authors termed "the curse of knowledge." The curse of knowledge is when you are knowledge in a certain field you begin to talk shop. The problem is that most people are not able to talk shop with you. And you forget they cannot talk shop and don't have the knowledge you have. So you end up talking over their head.
A concrete example of this is tapping out the beat of a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It would seem obvious that as you tap out the song, that another person would be able to identify it. But the reality is it would be practically impossible except for a miraculous guess. It would seem easy for the other person to identify the song because it is so clear in your head. But the other person does not have in their head what you have in your head.
What I took away from this book was a new way to evaluate the sermons I prepare. Making sure as best as I am able that each sermon I prepare has at least one sticky characteristic. The more the better!
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