Communication

Almost every communication tutorial will tell you to speak less, and listen more. Be a good listener, they say. So you try shutting up. And try to listen. You try to be a good listener. Only to be distracted by your brain that starts fidgeting, trying to instantly judge every sentence, trying to form responses to every argument made, waiting impatiently for its turn to finally speak; to finally tell the other speaker how she’s wrong, how you don’t agree to her opinions/observations, or how you agree completely to her perspective but have a few more intelligent points to add to her statements. ...

Every successful _________ in the world is good at communication. You may fill up the blank with any job title, position, career choice, occupation and still the statement will stand. Because to be successful at something, one not only needs a canvas to draw their ideas on, they also need to sell it. By selling, I don’t mean the usual exchange of money against goods/services. A piece of art won’t gather an audience by itself. It needs a story. A new reform bill won’t pass by itself. It needs persuasion. A LinkedIn profile won’t get you a job by itself. It needs an interview. ...

“Why are millennials so lazy?” “Have you stopped hitting your pet?” “Will you still vote for this stupid politician?” These are few examples of a loaded question. Such questions are ’loaded’ with an unjustified presupposition and it tricks you into answering in favour of the person questioning. The above questions assume that millennials are lazy, you hit your pet and the politician (in question) is stupid. And that’s the trap to avoid. ...