Hello! Hello! Hello!
This blog post is a little different from our usual ‘what-to/how-to’ conversations. New year resolutions have mostly certainly been given up on, we are almost done with March and I thought you & I could also work together and set a few realistic, achievable goals with respect to personal and professional communication for the next 9 months.Let us keep them simple. Achievable. Easy to practise. Goals that do not give us anxiety. The non-complicated ones which do not need any subscription or membership and will not require you to give up carbs and gluten.
So, Vamos! Let us do this!
3 things we are not doing
Saying sorry unnecessarily
Yeah, let us stop doing this. Let this not be the first thing you say when you respond to an email or a message. You could not respond to something right away and it is okay. Not all messages need urgent action and it is okay if you are not glued to your device 24x7. If you are British, Irish or Indian and really don’t know how to get over this urge to use sorry out of politeness all the time, make a fun game out of it. Keep virtual scores of unnecessary sorries with a friend and whoever loses could cook dinner for the other, put 50 cents in a ‘oops-i-apologised-without-any-reason-again’ jar.
Forcing yourself to be a ‘know-it-all’
If we do not know enough about some topic/subject, let us normalise saying - I do not know but I can read up!
Being held back by our fears
This one is easier said than done. A lot of us shy away from networking,presentations and opportunities because we visualise the worst case scenarios and believe that people will assume the worst of us. Let us remember to take deep breaths and repeat : not everyone is thinking of me all the time.
3 things we are doing
Advocating for oneself
Be proactive. Be expressive. Be curious. If something did not sit right with you, seek clarification. Be clear in expressing what you need, want and envision.
Being open and vulnerable
We will keep an open mind to new ideas, new concepts and new viewpoints. Share not just your success stories but also the challenges you faced along the way. It fosters a deeper connection and makes you a person that others feel comfortable around too.
Challenging oneself
Again, easier said than done, but when done shall boost your confidence and equip you with skills. Show up at events, offer to be the one who presents the project, maybe get into fixing clocks (my friend is currently struggling with one which was once hung up on a wall in the waiting room at a railway station in a small town) or knit! You get the idea, remember you don’t need to be perfect at it and repetition improves your form!
While it may not be as Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy as Dean Pelton would want us to believe, I think these are pretty realistic! Baby steps and deep breaths are what we are aiming for!
Goodluck to you!
Goodluck to me!
P.S. This is what happens when you resolve to - wake up at 4am, work for 10 hours, excel at tennis, squash and golf, attend 5 networking events, maintain happy relationships, all in a week with 4 hours of sleep :D
