The Surprising Link Between Communicating Effectively And Feeling Good
Team NTSs 
The second blog about the new communication skills mini course, Speaking Persuasively.
The Surprising Link Between Communicating Effectively And Feeling Good
Remember the last time you felt you had succeeded in a situation which you thought you would never master? Success feels good, and good communication skills lead to success.
Communication which influences can bring about the outcomes you want and also help calm the constant negative chatter in your brain. You can learn skills and techniques which will help you talk to others in a way that will bring about what you want and which are also beneficial for the person listening. It will, in short, create win-win situations.
The more you have interaction with other people that is successful, the more you will feel good. Good communication skills will, therefore, help you to become an accomplished and happier person. If you feel you are stuck in a loop of situations which have not turned out successfully, the root cause may be poor communication and misunderstandings.
In the last blog, I introduced you to a simple breathing exercise which you can use to calm the mind before going in to a situation where you will need to persuade and influence other people. Your nervous system is an important element of the way you communicate, but it needs to be trained to help rather than undermine you. Your nervous system uses electrical and chemical signals to coordinate your actions and responses.
Slowing down your breathing will encourage your nervous system to send out signals so that your mind, body and voice will chill out - they will then act and respond in the way you want them to.
Another quick and simple solution
The next mini-practice will aid you to improve your body language and how it is communicating with others. It focuses on your shoulders. They are an area of your body that often gets tense, but you are unaware of the tension. If they are tense, you will find it difficult to slow down your breathing, and so get your thoughts to calm down, and then to relax the rest of your body, including the parts of your body that you use to speak. Your mind, body and voice are interlinked and therefore you need to work on all three to improve how you communicate.
You can do this exercise anywhere (including your desk!), but you may want to do it in a place where you cannot be seen. You will basically be shrugging your shoulders:
Lift your shoulders up as high as possible, up towards your ears and hold them there for 2 seconds.
Next drop your shoulders down.
Then try to move them down even more.
The pattern of movements is therefore: up, hold, down, down.
Repeat these movements 10 times.
Where next?
If you would like to find out more about how to improve your spoken English, we have the perfect mini course for you: Speaking Persuasively. It will take just a few hours to complete and includes exercises and activities to help you enhance your body language and voice. Remember - success feels good, and good communication skills lead to success.
Next Up: When Life Feels Like a Never-Ending To-Do List
In the next post, there will be another ‘quick fix’ activity. And, I will start talking to you about the voice.
📋 Read the next post here → When Life Feels Like A Massive To-Do List
Categories: : Speaking Persuasively