I've posted about this topic before. It seems doctors and their staff are not well trained in the art of eloquence. They tend to tell us what to do and are missing the gene that requires them to explain. Case in point, last week my father went in for an MRI of his hip/leg which has been bothering him for several years now. After arriving home, he was called with an urgent request to drop everything and rush back to the hospital because they found something unrelated that they were concerned about. No time to say hello, goodbye, you're late, you're late, you're late!! He raced back down there where they did all sorts of tests and told him to stay...
Don't Shoot the MessengerBy JoJo TabaresI see it time and time again-people frustrated with friends or family who “just don’t understand" them. They ask why, but when they are told it’s because they weren't clear or sounded harsh, they don’t want to hear that. They want to hear that it’s the other person’s fault. I've even had people send me a message asking, no, PLEADING with me to help them because they don’t understand why they are always misunderstood. I tell them. I share it in the most gracious way, but they don’t want to hear that they need to change. They want the other person to have to change. Remember the man who asked Jesus what he must do to...
Number ONE New Year's Resolution: Spend More Time with Family & Friends Recent polls conducted by General Nutrition Centers, Quicken, and others show that "more than 50% of Americans vow to appreciate loved ones and spend more time with family and friends this year." What's the one skill we all need if we are going to spend more time with our friends and relatives? It's the very same skill needed to improve relationships: Communication! Why? Because you cannot even have a relationship with someone unless you communicate with them in some way. As I wrote about in a recent article, relationships are all about communication and the potential for misunderstanding and misinterpretation leave a relationship vulnerable. This year, resolve to learn to become a more effective communicator! Don't wait...
I have a degree in Speech Communication and over 25 years of experience since then. I have been able to communicate successfully with people of all ages, including those who have vastly different beliefs. I speak English, a little Spanish, a wee bit of ASL and I'm conversational in whining and Gibberish. What I cannot communicate with is my computer. Computers have a language and a logic all their own! I'll go into this in more detail later this week, but to give you a background (in order that you might appreciate the conclusions I will draw on Wednesday), I'd like to share with you the Tragic (though comedic) Tale of Techie Trouble with the computer formerly known as Zippy. Zippy is less than two years old. We bought him when...
How often have you wished that you could persuade someone to accept your idea, do something you thought was right, or go somewhere you thought was important? Think about it. How many times have you felt passionately about something, but you lacked the insight, discipline or training to present a good argument? While most people will never have a need to engage in a formal debate or speech, understanding these techniques can help train you to become more persuasive in daily life. We actually use persuasion skills every day. Do we need formal debate-level persuasion skills every day? No, but would our everyday need for persuasion skills be enhanced by the study of debate? Absolutely! Being skilled in the art...
