Ever feel like no one listens? Are you ever passionate about something that people just don't get? ...happens all the time.
We could blame the listener and recommend they start "actively listening" and recommend a few good "how to" listen books.
Many times people are listening, but they still don't hear the message. If our audience is attempting to listen or even when they're not, improving communication is the best way to for the message to take effect.
Today I had the perfect audience--someone paid me for my thoughts on an issue. How exciting! I told them exactly what I thought, why what I was saying was the truth, and how implementing my suggestions would benefit them.
I blew it.
My first reaction was frustration that the person I was speaking to didn't have the capacity or the motivation to consider what I was sharing. Turns out, "it's my own damn fault."
The question is how can we communicate our messages more effectively? According to Charles Halton:
Create a seeming paradox that relates to what you are teaching and then unwind it. Open with a penetrating rhetorical question. Hold up an example of an aphorism that everyone believes and then demonstrate its absurdity. Drop a bombastic statement and then calmly unpack it. Paint vivid and slightly obscure word pictures, analogies, and illustrations. Repackage information in new and quirky ways so that people are forced to reprocess it.
The truth is there isn't a silver bullet approach to communicating. We should pause and consider an effective strategy rather than simply spew facts and opinions if we're passionate about communicating our message. Consider the words we're about to use are things that have value. The value of our words will depend on how we use them. Think before we speak. Our thoughts and ideas may become reality when we communicate with high-value.
We may become more valuable people if our thoughts and ideas are accepted because people listen to us and hear us.
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