Hello, I am back with my 12 easy tips for improvement. These are 12 easy tips that can make a big impact.
Tips 8 & 9
Tell the truth. Be precise in communication.
I would think it goes without saying that integrity is important. I would think that everyone wants to be honest, and that no one wants to hear lies. It, telling the truth, isn’t always easy though is it? Sometimes it is done to not hurt someone’s feelings. The key to that is to be as gentle as possible and to not say too much. The more we say sometimes makes things worse.
I am that individual who would rather hear the truth than a lie. Lies are always revealed. And when that happens, it hurts. Someone thinks you are a fool to believe what they are saying. Sometimes I pretend to believe the lie because I can use that to my advantage. But, it still hurts that someone thinks I am that dumb to believe them. The point is it hurts.
A poem to relate this: Dark Despair
To learn that you have been deceived that dark despair, The darker pain to learn of it and find you no longer care. ~Carolyn Elizabeth Barnes Yerington
It is also important to be precise in what we say. There is a lot of misunderstanding in this world. This really hit home with me when I said something I thought was very innocent. (I do this a lot). And the receiver of my words was I will say taken aback. She told me what she heard. “I did not mean it like that”, I responded. Her response, “It does not matter what you meant, what matters is what I heard.”
This was years ago, and it has stuck with me all these years. It is quite noticeable in the world today. People hear something. They twist it to what they think someone said, and then tempers flare up and finger pointing begins, and the message which was simple is now lost.
Another problem with language is that we are clear in our mind what we want to say. It can be a very simple statement. But people can be on two different pages. We are making reference to one thing and someone thinks we are making reference to something else. Then there is confusion. Remember, that other people are not reading your mind. We need to be specific when we talk.
The key to this is think before speaking. What will that person or those people think when I say _____? How can I say what I want to say without having it be unclear or misunderstood? How will my words be interpreted?
Now, I don’t want you to be afraid to speak. Just be clear. Be specific. Make sure that what you say will be on the same page as who is listening. You don’t want to talk about one thing when someone else thinks you are talking about something else.
OK.
Cheers.
Lisa
www.facebook.com/coachLisa