Communication

Communication, that is a word we hear a lot as college students. Teachers say "You must communicate", or an adviser tells you how much employers look for people with "communication skills". They all tell us that communication is key to success but no one ever explains good communication to us. This is my attempt to clear the confusion on communication.

In my mind there are three different varieties of communication everyone needs to understand. The first is peers(friends). Now this is very important that you understand when you talk to your friends you can be informal and use slang. This makes communication "faster" but never ever use it on the next two varieties or they receiver will just be confused. The second is family, now this may feel like it should be the same as peers but its not. For example in high school you probably used cuss words with your friends all the time. Now imagine your parents face if they heard you cussing, do you see that expression well maybe you should make sure you don't talk to them with cuss words and slang. The third is higher ups, now what I mean is teachers, or bosses. For this one it is always better to be respectful  to them and do your best to speak in the most "clean" way possible.

Now when you are leading and trying to effectively communicate you have to keep a few things in mind. First we will keeps this generalized for individuals and groups. The most important thing to ever do while communicating is to match your body language to what you are saying. Basically if you believe in it look excited etc. Another very important thing is speaking concisely, people hate having their time wasted. So to make sure the crowd does not grow to hate you simply speak efficiently. Do not use filler words such as: um, like, or ahh. Thirdly you have to remember to use emotions. People respond well to emotions, basically they try to mirror you so if you are excited about the topic they will get excited to. Also I know from personal experience I hate it when someone talks in monotone so just don't.

Keep these things in mind and hopefully you will become a better communicator.