: Re: How to give written advice in a way that is encouraging, not overbearing How do we write something to inspire a person which corrects the mistakes they've made until now, but without making

@Carla500

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"which corrects the mistakes they've made until now"

There's your problem. You're viewing this person as a fix-it project, as a series of mistakes to be corrected. You might want to think about this person as making a series of choices based on priorities.

If you want this person to change his or her actions, find out about his or her priorities. What does s/he value? What does s/he want to accomplish? How is s/he going about those goals? Then you talk about what the goals are and how they can be accomplished, and what might be standing in the way of those goals.

If the person's goal is "be a better writer," talk about how "better writers" have a large vocabulary and use the standard version of the language rather than textspeak. Don't say "you have to stop using textspeak," but rather that the person must also learn how to write correctly so that s/he can choose when to use textspeak and when not to. Talk about how employers and teachers might view textspeak, and what impression s/he wants to give those future employers and teachers.

You aren't being inspiring because you aren't providing anything positive.

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