These things will limit your ability to communicate

I recently did a segment with Univision that I wanted to share with you.

If you don’t know Spanish, don’t worry.  Below I cover the main points.

In the segment, I covered three things that will limit our ability to communicate.  These are simple and basic, yet do not be fooled!  They are foundational and yet because of their simplicity we tend to overlook them.

1. Our Perspective.  A perspective is an interpretation of the facts, a point of view.  We run into trouble when instead of believing that our perspective is just an interpretation of the facts, we believe our perspectives are the facts.  

Especially in difficult situations, it takes an incredible amount of humility to slow down, take a step back, and look at things objectively. 

It takes even more humility when a different perspective may make us wrong, especially in front of other people.  So we cling to our perspective and fight for it, not realizing it limits our ability to communicate and move forward in life. 

2. Uncertainty about our goals. I’ve always loved the quote “If you don’t know where you are going, every road will take you nowhere”.  It applies in so many areas of our lives, especially in our ability to communicate with others. 

How often do you ask yourself: “What would I like to communicate in this situation?”

Yes, at the beginning it may feel as if this will slow you down.  Yet once you do this often enough, you will build a muscle that will allow you to reflect on this faster and more seamlessly in your communications.  And most importantly? You will be better assured to communicate what you want.

3. Fear. We could explain this one for days. 

Fear of not being listened to.

Fear of being seeing weak.

Fear of not being allowed to fully express our thoughts and opinions. 

Fear will make you make up stories about the facts.  Fear will make you fall into the trap of #1 above.

As always, I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment or question below.  If you enjoyed this post, I would be honored if you share it with your friends, family, and community.

All the best,

Judith