Be A Breakthrough Communicator For Yourself
Breakthrough Communicators elevate their interactions and build genuine rapport by utilizing strategies such as being clear and specific with our action-based intentions and expectations, committing to inquiry-based listening, and being gentle but firm when sharing our expertise, ideas, passions and goals.
But there is one more commitment I want you to make.
One more skill which ensures Breakthrough Communicators develop the loving, secure communities they desire.
That skill?
Take every Breakthrough Communicator strategy you have learned and apply it to yourself.
Don't Be A Nag: Breakthrough Communicator Tip #20
Raise you hand if you enjoy being nagged.
No you don't, put your hand down.
No one likes to be nagged.
By a partner…
A parent…
That guy at work who wants to borrow your truck next week to move a couch…
No one likes to be nagged.
Which is why Breakthrough Communicators don't.
Harder than it seems.
But Breakthrough Communicators avoid nagging by understanding three crucial aspects of nagging:
1) It comes from a well-intentioned place. Your parent/partner/the guy from work needs something. And if the need is great enough to nag, it's probably pretty important. But nagging is so detrimental to our well-intentioned purposes because even if it best serves our other, the risk of shutting down the child in charge and triggering self-defense mechanisms makes it a really ineffective form of persuasion.
Earn Their Trust Every Time: Breakthrough Communicators' Tip # 10
Breakthrough Communicators have needs too. We have our own dreams and desires and we need a healthy community to help us achieve those goals.
And there is an invaluable trust-building step in effective communication which ensures a stable bridge between the needs of our other and the needs of ourselves.
Show acceptance.
We have to show acceptance for who our other is right now, in the present.
Resist diving into everything they're doing wrong in their lives, businesses, careers, etc. All the ways they're limiting their own potential and success.
It sounds obvious.
But I see it happen all the time.
Keep the Decision-Maker Talking: Breakthrough Communicator Tip #8
When we ask open-ended questions, we create room for our other to share about their needs, desires, and feelings--one of our absolute favorite things to do.
It is an essential technique for building trust and rapport, information-gathering, and deepening our personal and professional relationships.
But it can easily be undone with one crippling mistake.
We see it time and time again.
And I'm willing to bet every single one of us has--myself included--committed this detrimental error.
Do...
Not...
Hold Anyone's Attention: Breakthrough Communicators' Tip #6
Breakthrough Communicators build instant rapport with real decision makers, or the child in charge, by focusing intention and expectation through direct eye contact. And to master these skills, they practice every day.
But how do Breakthrough Communicators grab and hold the attention of these decision-makers?
There is no faster, and more positive way to immediately secure the attention of another than to…