It is a new year. It is a time for resolutions. We want to lose weight. We want to visit a new country. We want a shot at a new job.
But it seems a lot of times in our resolutions we ignore the obvious, something that we might think we are good at, but something we probably all could improve on. Our communication skills. After all, there is nothing more important than being able to truly connect with your family, your friend, your employees, your partners, your investors…
No matter how good we think we are at connecting with people, there is always a room for improvement. We are all different, with different passions, desires, experiences. We connect in a variety of ways. Personally, I believe that becoming an outstanding communicator is an exploit of a lifetime. But I find that sometimes I need a reminder, a little bit of an inspiration to help me hone this skill.
If you are the same way, you might enjoy these fantastic quotes:
- “The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.” ― Sydney Harris
- “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” – Peter Drucker
- “Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.” ― Jim Rohn
- “The tone is the message.” ― Kevin T. McCarney
- “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” ― Plato
- “To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.” — Francois de La Rochefoucauld
- “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” ― Epictetus
- “Speak when you are angry – and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.” ― Laurence Peters
- “Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” ― Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- “Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.” ― Leo Rosten
- “Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.” ― Earl Wilson
- “Two monologues do not make a dialogue.” ― Jeff Daly
- “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ― Ernest Hemingway
- “You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” ― Scott Peck
- “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ― Mark Twain
- “Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” ― Henry Winkler
- “Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.” ― Lawrence Clark Powell
- “When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.” ― Stephen R. Covey
- “We are stronger when we listen, and smarter when we share.” ― Rania Al-Abdullah
- “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” ― Maya Angelou
- “Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech, and 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words.” ― Deborah Bull
- “Get in touch with the way the other person feels. Feelings are 55% body language, 38% tone, and 7% words.” ― Unknown
- “When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “You have to be willing sometimes to listen to some remarkable bad opinions. Because if you say to someone, ‘That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard; get on out of here!’—then you’ll never get anything out of that person again, and you might as well have a puppet on a string or a robot.” — John Bryan
- “There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation.” — James Nathan Miller
Originally appeared on Inc.