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DOUG'S BLOG
Talking communication, leadership, and social skills for personal and business situations, among other things. I hope you find it useful. Please be sure to add in your two cents. I would love to see what you think. |
 You are going to die.
I am not saying that just to be shocking. It is true of everyone, right? We all are going to kick the bucket one day. Each of us will have a last day on Earth. There is no getting around it. I am not saying this to be depressing - just the opposite. If we know that we only have a certain amount of time to spend, then we should be motivated to appreciate the time we do have. We should all be trying to squeeze as much out of this life as we possibly can. Our daily mindset should be affected by this reality. There is a Bible verses that says "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). There is a lot of truth in that. We should value every day we have. So, what should it look like to have our mindset influenced by number our days? Here are three ways: 1. Try to have a long term impact on people. Will the world be better off as a result of you having been around? Will it be worse off? Will there be no difference? This are all important questions to ask yourself as you are living your life. 2. Let the chips fall where they may. At some point, the smartest thing we can do is just do the best we can and let go of the results. We can waste of lot of energy, time, and stress worrying about things that are out of our control. Having a mindset of focusing only on what we can control can do wonders for our peace of mind. It is time to free yourself from the prison of fear. 3. Realize that most things aren't as big a deal as we think they are. Over reacting is poison. Not only does it add stress to your life, but it gets you in the destructive mindset of thinking that there is huge pressure on every decision you make. Reminding yourself that most the micro things that you do on a daily basis will be forgotten eventually can make you give things the amount of weight they deserve - which in most cases is very little. Thank you for reading. Do you agree or disagree? I would love to see your comments.  Okay, I admit that I am being a little overdramatic for my first post. Communication skills are obviously not everything. But they are definitely important. Disagree if you want to, but I think that improved communication skills can make us: Healthier Happier Richer Not bad. I think we would all take more of any of these things if we could. 1. Healthier. Communication skills can improve our health because they can lower stress. How is that possible? Imagine if your relationships were better, in both personal and professional situations. Imagine if I'm right about the other two things on the list - happier and richer. Those things can definitely lower our stress levels, and make us healthier as a result. If health is a priority for you, then it's time to add communicating better to your goals of eating, exercising, and sleeping better too. 2. Happier. If improved communication skills made all of your relationships better, it makes sense that you would be happier at home, happier at work, and generally happier in every area of your life. If you think about challenges that you have had in past relationships in your life, you would probably realize that a lot of problems were caused by bad communication, or lack of it. An improvement in your ability to communicate could help the way you relate to your spouse, friends, and business contacts. Sign me up.
3. Richer. As a business coach, this is obviously the area that I focus on most. I am a huge believer in the benefit of communication skills in professional situations. Bad communication skills will make you look bad. Good ones will make you look just like everyone else. But great communication skills will separate you from the crowd. Communication shows up in many areas in our professional lives. We may have to give a presentation to potential clients, talk to strangers at a networking event, or write an email explaining the latest objectives to employees. The possibilities are endless. Communication can be the difference in getting a deal done or making it fail, it can be the reason for a promotion or the reason for getting fired, and on and on. There is a lot riding on your ability to understand others and be understood. So, what is the point of this discussion? If communication skills can do so much for us, then what are you waiting for? It is time to prioritize them and start working on improving your ability to communicate as soon as possible. Thank you for reading. Do you agree or disagree? I would love to see your comments. |
