Many of us walk through life thinking other people push our buttons. That guy who cuts us off on the freeway makes us mad. The woman who lets her dog poop in our front yard annoys us. The child who says he did his homework, but we find out later that he didn’t, disappoints us. We spend […]
One day, when my daughter was in college, she called me in a panic because that afternoon she was going to be giving her first campus tour at her university. As she did a “run through” of her tour stops and the comments she would make at each, something she said struck me. She mentioned that parents […]
Whether it’s listening talking to someone and assuming that because they say, “uh huh,” that they understand or sending an email and deluding yourself into believing because you received a read notice, that the person actually read your message, none of us can afford to ASSUME that communication has taken place in any situation. We […]
We all know at least one. It’s that guy who only asks how you’re doing so he can jump in and tell you how he’s doing. It’s that gal who has to let you know all about the great things her son is doing, but never asks about even ONE of your kids. They’re the […]
Greetings from Ireland! It’s about 5:25 am here and I’m getting to start my last two full days of my UK/Ireland adventure. Many people asked me to write about the communication differences I’ve seen while here. I wrote a little about that in last week’s Monday Motivation and will likely write more, in-depth pieces in […]
When my brother and I were teenagers, we used to fight . . . a lot! I’ll admit that most of our fights were ones that I started and were probably unprovoked. In one particularly “lively” incident, I found myself trapped on our back porch, with my brother telling me that under no circumstances was […]
I’m five days into my trip to England and other than the obvious differences, such as their very fine British accent and the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road from those of us in the US, I’ve noticed another interesting difference in British communication- they’re awfully polite, but still clear in […]
There are a lot of myths surrounding the subject of nonverbal communication. The biggest being the oft quoted statistic stating that nonverbal communication is 93% of communication, leaving verbal communication only 7% of our interactions. Despite the myths, I will agree that nonverbal communication is very powerful for many reasons, but two reasons really stand […]
How often do we take the time to really think about the words we choose to express ourselves? In most instances, we use the first word or words that come to mind. However, one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes illustrates the importance of choosing words wisely. At first glance, you might think that it’s unlikely […]
This weekend I saw a news piece about a video that’s gone viral on YouTube. “Every Opportunity,” published by the Atlanta Speech School, contains a powerful message about how adults talk to children. In some instances, the adults in the video ignore the communication efforts of the children and we can see how dejected they are. Sometimes, it’s not […]
