How to Improve Communication Skills?

You can improve communication skills in many ways. Once you become aware of the main principles of good communication, use any of the below methods to kick start your practice.

Caution: Use situational judgment. Not all things can be done in all situations.

Ready? Let us start.

Get out of your comfort Zone.

They say the best French is learnt in France, and I for one can assure you they are right. When we limit our exposure to our everyday surrounding, our awareness is dumbed down by the familiarity. You lose the edge that is needed to learn. So when you want to learn, you have to immerse yourself in a new surrounding so you can become aware of the nuances that you take for granted.

Some of the most prolific writers and creative geniuses got out of their homes and immerse their senses in a new experience as a way to fire up their creativity. When they sleep at night they can hear the sound of waves, the hum of bees and all the other minutest things that had not caught their attention in the past.

Our brain has a wonderful coping mechanism sometimes referred to as "Deletion Filters". These set of filters filer out any activity that is carried out for a period of time like the hum of a distant machine, the smell of perfume etc. This is a neat mechanism, If we did not have it, we our senses will be over whelmed by stimulation all the time. Another example: when you wear a new watch you can feel it on your hand for a few days and then you won't even notice if you are wearing it.

So GET OUT of your familiar surrounding and get into a place that you have never been to. Instead of ordering a home study course on "How to interact with people" go to an out of town workshop. Meet new people in new surroundings. Give that brain of yours an opportunity to work.

Get your feet wet in uncharted territories. Use common sense when you do it to avoid getting into trouble. If you face trouble with Self Esteem, we have solution for that too.

Overcome Hesitation: Ask for "Ungettable" things

Back in the school days we used play a dare called "What is the Time"? We used to approach a cute girl and ask what the time is. It is a simple harmless exercise. But for the shy guys in my class it gave a chance to speak to a girl so they just jumped on the opportunity. Most of them got really good at it and stopped wearing watches and started collecting friends.

The below exercise is a variation of what's the time routine and very helpful. Here is how it goes.

All you have to do is approach random people and ask for their opinion on really stupid stuff. Another option is to visit shops and ask for things they won't have.

I once went to a Bistro and asked for a "Haircut". The waiter was confused so I repeated myself "Can I get a haircut?" and he said "Sorry we don't do that here". I said "Oh really? nevermind. may be another time?" and walked out. It was fun. My heart was beating very fast. It was so exhilarating, so stupid, but fun.

 

Learn a New Language.

I always wanted to travel the world and speak at least two or three exotic languages. So when I got the chance to learn French, I jumped on it, plus the teacher was really hot! My English improved a lot when I started taking French classes. Learning a new language does wonders to your self esteem and not to forget you are using more of your brain power and in some cases it boosts your job prospectus too.

It will refresh your existing language connections in the brain and improve communication skills in many ways. Something like deleting the temporary internet files and refreshing the browser page for faster access to the web pages.

The Rewrite to Rewire Effect

Language is just like your Face, It expresses your emotions. We all get used to seeing different expressions on face but, forget to do so with our language. This exercise will go a long way in developing flexibility of language and develop your communication.
Take a 500 word article from your favourite tabloid and rewrite it to express different emotions i.e. the whole article should reflect only one emotion. Lesser words, the better. The idea is to make you juggle your language on demand. In turn this will flex your brain and fire your imagination.

 

The Left/Right Brain Coordination Exercise

This is one of the simplest ways to get your brain fired up. All you have to do is use your non dominant hand to do your most common work. Pretend you have a fractured right hand and use left instead and if you are a lefty do the right one. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body and vice versa, so when you start using your non dominant hand you are forming new pathways in your brain, new connection between and left and the right.

Einstein used to play Guitar for hours everyday.Music is the creative function of the brain while mathematics is the logical function. One stimulates the other. And thus our good friend was so successful in using both side of his brain.

In fact many classical musicians happen to be good mathematicians too. Many of the big discoverers and scientists have one way or another output for their creative brain.

Ninety percent of population is Right Handed and do not use their Left hand as much. Use your Left hand to do some of the basic things like brushing your teeth and Eating. Engage your left hand in skillful work. This will start to activate your Right Brain functions.

As you become comfortable with the simple activities, take it to the next level by writing with Left hand. If you are left handed, do the same with right hand. The exercises are given in the order of difficulty. Feel free to tear it apart and do it any way you want. There are no rules for creativity.

Bottom line: Do things differently. It will improve your communication skills and more importantly, it will change your life perspective.

1. Brush your teeth with Left Hand
2. Use only Left hand to Eat Food, but make sure you wash it thoroughly before you eat :-)
3. Draw with your Left hand.
4. Start mirror writing with right hand
5. Learn to write with left hand
6. Learn to write with left hand and right hand simultaneously

There is a lot more you can do. Let your creativity run and you will come up with some new ideas to take your communication to a whole new level! To improving your communication abilities constantly is like sharpening your sword.

Remember it becomes easy to improve communication skills when you realize that you are becoming more and more flexible.