Try It for Ten Minutes
They say that, when you start running for exercise, you need to give yourself ten minutes to get warmed up and start feeling good. I suggest you apply the same formula to practicing. Give it ten minutes of focused effort to get over the hump of not wanting to do it, feeling silly, whatever. Ten …
What About When I Just Don’t Feel Like It?
What should we do when our mood is at odds with our intention? We know that we need to focus on the long-term impact of our communication. We know that getting frustrated or irritated won’t advance our cause. But we’re only human. We get annoyed, we get tired of running into the same obstacles, and …
“The” Creepiest Word
You may know that I am a proud Shakespeare geek. I was the Education Director at the National Shakespeare Company for years, and almost nothing makes me happier than a well-acted, well-produced Shakespeare play. I’m also a big language nerd. Why do words work the way they do? How do they change over time and …
“…as I could.”
Recently I was part of a discussion that centered around a quote that read, in part: “Did I reach out as far as I could? Did I serve as many people as I could?” One point of view that came up was that these questions can put a lot of pressure on the listener. The …
How Can I Handle Competing Intentions?
I got to spend some time last week with a wonderful team of people doing incredibly cool work. We were talking about my favorite topic: intentional communication! This team has chosen to really engage with the idea of intention, and to work it into their culture. In fact, they begin meetings by asking what intentions …
When to Pick Up the Phone
When your conversation spreads across more than one medium (from email, to text, to Messenger) When you find yourself asking, “What am I supposed to say to that?” When you wonder, “Wait, what happened here?” When you feel your blood pressure rising When you’re sure the other person is thinking annoyed thoughts about you When …
Your Outside Affects Your Inside
You know that I like to think about effective communication as starting from the mental (intention) and moving to the physical (alignment). But it’s also true that changing your body can affect how you feel! (We’re complicated creatures.) When you’re nervous, what do you do? Many people focus on why they’re nervous, maybe going over …
What Goes Through Your Mind When You’re Preparing to Present?
What goes through your mind when you know you’re going to present to a roomful of people? I like to think about it as the lifecycle of your mindset. Does one of these look like you? Dread it >>>Survive it>>>Feel relieved that it’s overFeel neutral>>>Execute it>>>Move on to the next thing Anticipate …
10 Seconds to Better Communication?
This article in Inc. suggests that, when you come to a sticky point in a business conversation, you pause for ten seconds before you respond. The author’s strategy here is a cool one, I think. The pause allows you time to shift from your default intention into something that is more likely to support your …
Liberation!
Last month I was working with a new client, an accomplished woman who has done a lot of public speaking. She is new in her role at her organization, and she wants to make sure she is compelling and engaging, as well as knowledgable. I introduced her to the idea of deliberate intention: making the …
