Assuming you are living a life which takes place with social contacts (even if its just a view contacts), communication is the most important “skill” that you can have.
Every single relation depends on how you communicate – your partnership, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends, your sport mates, your teachers, your neighbors. All of them.
At the beginning of our life’s , we are educated in some basic rules for communication. How to introduce yourself, how to listen and answer or how to ask a question. Somehow – during school, we are losing the attention to the education of good communication. It is something that boils down to the parents and what kind of focus they are putting on communication skills. During puberty, we let go of communication skills. It is kind of an acceptance in society, that young people in puberty have the right, or call it freedom, to develop their own personal style of communication. Wether the skills are good or bad, friendly or unfriendly, helpful or not helpful, empathetic or introvert – they are what they are. Finally during apprenticeship or any other job related education, you might get some trainings regarding communication, but just for the matter of being successful in your (future) job – not so much for good communication in your life and your relationships.
On the flip side, we are all admiring people who have good communication skills. People, who can speak in front of many people and touch the souls and hearts of the audience. People, who can articulate their thoughts in a capturing way, so that people can follow easily. Lovers, who can communicate their feelings and emotions in the nicest words, so that the loved ones truly feel the emotions. Or friends, who can listen carefully and think before they respond. And once they respond, they support you with their words in the areas which are the most important for you. All these are communication skills and you will find tons and tons of examples for good and bad communication close to your social environment but also with leaders around the world. Take Barack Obama, who has a natural talent to communicate and capture people. Or take Olaf Scholz, who has a natural talent not to communicate and capture people.
I am just wondering why we are not investing into this skill more as it defines our lives so much. Live would be so much better, if we could lift the skill of communication within all of us. It would be much easier to understand each other and it would be much easier to conclude the right things from our communication. Within our closest circle to our most distant contacts.
Becoming a good communicator, which includes being a good listener, should be an elementary part of our education and should be focused all our live. I am constantly learning what I can do better and I am having a hard time to constantly communicate good – although I should know how to do that in my age…
