Giving a good speech often has very little to do with the minutes in front of your audience and everything to do with the time and care taken before you ever stand up.

My friend knew that if the employees expected the same talk at the same time, there was a greater likelihood that they’d just tune it out. If you fly often, it’s likely that after a few flights, you don’t listen to the standard safety message anymore. You’ve already heard the same thing many times before. Why listen?

The challenge, though, is that the safety information is important. In case of emergency, it helps people survive. The information my friend needed to share was important too, and he needed his audience to listen.

The other day, I picked up my four-year-old son from his pre-school and as we were driving out of the parking lot, he asked why he had to be buckled into his carseat. I explained that we all have to wear seatbelts. They keep us safe, and besides, those are the rules. (I’d been talking about rules a lot lately. At four, he’s pretty interested in how to push boundaries so I try to give him some clear parameters.)

He replied, “Mom, what are rules?”

That’s a great question. How do I explain rules to a four-year-old?