This punctuation system, which is related to the Bi-Lateral method, is useful for gaining someone’s full attention when their minds are wandering.

Entrain your words into consistent beats as you speak. However, don’t keep the beat at the same rate. Speed up and slow down the rate of the rhythm, but keep the words falling on the beat. You can practice this first by talking while music is playing, and making your words fall on the beat. Once you can do this, let some words fall two to the beat. (In the last sentence, “to the” would be good for a word pair that doubles up on a beat.

Once you have that, try some triplets, where three words cover a single beat. As you practice, you’ll notice that it’s actually easier and more effective to think in terms of syllables, rather than words. Try putting this to the beats:

The beats are numbered: “1. SYLlables 2. RAther than 3. BEATS.”

That’s a DA-da-da DA-da-da DA. rhythm.

ONE and a TWO and a THREE.

This is a kind of, “Lions and tigers and BEARS, oh my!” Two triplets and a whole note. I call this the George Carlin style because this was his signature style. His speech was laced with rhythms from the big band era, and this contributed to his hip, cool daddy vibe.

Once you have this, then you’ll find that as you speak, you can stay on the beat, but also speed up and slow down the rhythm. Listen to George Carlin’s routines, and notice how he speeds up and slows down while keeping the beat.

Bear in mind that many musicians, including Eric Clapton, tap their feet on or just ahead of the beat. This helps them play intense, exciting rhythms that keep the audience engaged.

Also, many people report that they have a much easier time learning new information when there’s a rhythm with alternating strong and weak beats. Refer to the Rhythmic Learning Strategy.