‘Rock Star Dies in Tragic Accident’ was the headline I saw 20 years ago while I was walking past Richer Sounds and heading to London Bridge Tube Station. I tried to decipher the headline.
I knew instantly that this death was not of someone I had ever heard of. Had they been sufficiently famous, the newspaper would have put their name in the headline. Jagger Found… or Elton Tragedy… or something like that.
I tried to guess who it could be. I didn’t want to buy the paper to find out. I new I would find out eventually from the tv or a friend if it was sufficiently big news. When I did find out, I don’t recall ever hearing of them.
It was a pivotal moment because it made me really focus on how I assessed what people said and what the media led with as their headline. Since that time, I have always enjoyed playing my own little game of decipher the headline. I enjoy trying to decide whether something is going to be truly important or a waste of time, based on the headline.
You can save a lot of time as you develop the skill of quickly deciphering what the underlying message or motive is to any communication. Sometimes I nail it and sometimes I don’t. But I always enjoy playing the game. If you enjoy mysteries, psychology or solving puzzles, you may like to give it a try.