Communication Skills

I recently had a group project due in my college 101 class. The idea was I would get up and teach the class about communication skills. I had the subject of verbal communication. I was pretty excited about the project because I felt like I was a pretty good communicator. I thought....

Nick and I recently had a discussion and he was telling me he didn't feel like I was "hearing" what he had to say. I mean, he knew I was listening, but he didn't feel like I was getting it. Initially I just chalked it up to something more like he and I seeing things differently and there was nothing I could do about it (I know, I'm a bad wife ;) and assumptions are a horrible thing). Later on that week I was talking with some friends and one of them told me he felt like I wasn't listening. Honestly, I probably wasn't because I was so excited to be with friends from school and telling them about me I wasn't doing a very good job being a friend back. I was being the person that always had a story to tell right after someone told theirs (as I'm writing this I'm now wondering how much more I do this than I completely realize?). Hopefully not a one upper person, but a story teller person. Either way, it wasn't good. It immediately clicked in my head, the conversation I had with Nick. Maybe I wasn't hearing him.

Do you know what makes someone good at communication? Being a good listener. True story. Think about it friends, how can you really communicate with someone if you're not listening because you're interrupting to tell your story? You won't understand the person speaking, can not connect with them on a deeper level and can gain no sense of empathy. Duh! Try listening next time and see what cool things you'll learn about someone.