I get why a lot of people struggle to connect to others especially in an age where it’s easier than ever to share their opinions or attack others from behind a screen. It’s scary to put ourselves out there where we’re vulnerable to things we don’t want to hear.
We want to relate, teach, celebrate or be prepared to respond but we’re nervous to hear what they really think unless it’s something good.
Like any skill or talent it takes time and practice to grow and develop. As we get older, we change and we are required to adapt; like it or not.
How many times have you had to hear something before you started doing it?
When you hear about accidents that could have been prevented by buckling your seatbelt or putting the damn phone down?
When you hear you should eat better and workout more to avoid complications or failures but you continue to follow your same routine?
When you’re presented with ways to help you work smarter, not harder, but choose to ignore those solutions….whyyyy?!
Where is the line between “You aren’t listening” and complete silence?
Sounds like a pretty lonely world where no one is talking anymore, huh?
Seems like a naive move to stop listening, huh?
It’s more beneficial to post content that provides value to your audience than it is to post for the sake of ‘frequency rules.’ The purpose of communicating is providing something of value. Are you handing out teaching opportunities or invitations to a pity party?
You can be extremely influential without being polarizing. Our goal should be to communicate our message in the most clear, concise and helpful way to those listening to us. It is our job to portray ourselves, our companies and the message we want to send out. It is our job to listen to (constructive) feedback from those we’re interacting with and take it to heart.
The way you communicate is how you let people know what and why something is important to you and why it should be important to them.
There is a difference between listening and waiting your turn to speak. One is the way of arrogance and one is the way of the successful. I’ll leave you with this…
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.”-Dalai Lama
Cheers!
Marin
PS: If you’re wanting to improve the way you communicate with others, start with everything besides your voice. Nearly 90% of consumers purchase something based solely on how it looks. If they can’t tell what you’re about in the first five seconds of looking at your brand, they won’t move forward. Let’s talk about it.