Communicate - Can You Hear Me?

#MondayMinder from February, 2011

"Communicate, communicate, and then communicate some more."
- Bob Nelson

Can you hear me now?!

It happens to each of us. A situation occurs between two or more people. Feelings get hurt or misunderstandings arise. One person thought the other knew something or another did not give the whole story.

The problem is normally caused by a lack of communication.

It is a pure and simple explanation for many of the problems which occur in our life.

The lack of communication could be intentional or at other times inadvertent. But in the end, if we just keep talking to each other we will avoid many of the misunderstandings which get in the way of a great life.

Keep talking, keep communicating and life will be a whole lot easier.

Stay inspired my friends!

How We Communicate

"Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing." - Rollo May

It does not happen very often, but I have from time to time left my cell phone sitting at home on my office desk. When it does happens, I have found myself siting in the company office amused by a certain sense of loss.

Yes, I am like billions of others that carry a cell phone. I sort of think cell phones are the modern day equivalent to shirt pen pocket protectors. Cell phone nerds of the new millennium I suppose.

I am also not sure when I became so attached to the many forms of communication we have today. All of us use cell phones for instant connection to others. We use the Internet which opens your life to an entire world and nearly all of the information amassed. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and web blogs; a vast array of information and communication sources at our fingertips.

Some might argue all of this information and communication access is way too much. Having such a huge amount of information might be a bad thing for us. Yet think about many more years ago when the first telephones became household fixtures. Those devices opened a huge new world to people everywhere.

To think that up until the time of telephones, the most instant communication one could send required going to a telegraph office, wiring off your message and then it had to be delivered physically to a person on the other end. Western Union Telegraph basically obsoleted the Pony Express.

Today, I can be standing in an office in Cork, Ireland and talk to my wife in Atlanta. All I have to do is dial her number on my cell phone and talk. And the other forms, typing an email message, writing an instant message or even setting up my web cam and delivering a live image; it can be done real time. I don't even need that webcam. That is old school. Just Facetime via our Apple iPhones.

The opening of communication between people is a good thing.

The more we talk, the more we get a better understanding of each other.

Be aware of those that use it for destructive purposes, but do not allow that to push you away from the goodness that increased communication provides. My cell phone might be sitting by itself once in a while, but I have a variety of ways to communicate with others.

And today I'll start by standing face-to-face and just talking to people.

Stay inspired my friends.

Depot or Depot

"Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success." -Paul J. Meyer

Communication has a strange way of getting in the way of a conversation. We can talk to each other all day long and never really understand each other.

The causes of our conversation malfunction are numerous. It could be a misinterpreted email. There are phone conversations with a bad connection. It could be a Tweet that uses an acronym in the wrong fashion. Or maybe its just a cultural difference.

Take for instance a conversation between myself and a British customer over dinner. The English language while very similar in different countries, it does have differences as well. And English is not generally accepted as the hardest to learn.

We talked of the route (British: root; American: rout) from the airport to the city centre (British: centre; American: center). And after a meal including fries (British: chips; American: fries), laughed about the after dinner drink, which was a Cockburns Port (British: coeburns; American: I didn't leave out the 'ck').

So a conversation that should have been simple required attentive listening. It required attentive inquiry between the two parties involved. It required being engaged in the personal connection of two people talking.

When all was done, there was a new appreciation for culture, each opinion and each other. We learned more and we grew more. For me, if we can walk away better for the experience; if we can each earn more from the interaction; our lives are raised to a new level.

So next time you go to Home Depot (British: deh poh; American: dee poh) and happen to have a conversation with someone, listen and improve your life. Make it a conversation that each of you can walk away from better for the experience.

Communicate

"Communicate, communicate, and then communicate some more." ~Bob Nelson

It happens to each of us, a situation comes up between two or more people and feelings get hurt or misunderstandings arise. One person thought the other knew something or another didn't give the whole story.

The problem normally is caused by a lack of communication. Its a pure and simple explanation for many of the problems that occur in our life. The lack of communication could be intentional and at other times inadvertent.

But in the end, if we just keep talking to each other we'll avoid many of the misunderstandings that get in the way of a great life.

Keep talking, keep communicating and life will be a whole lot easier. Can you hear me now?!

Connection To Others

When it comes to connecting with people, communicating in various methods is a must. My book, "Attitude In Words" is available at many locations such as;

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/
Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Books Unlimited - http://www.booksunlimited.ie/
Lulu - http://www.lulu.com/)
Eruditor - http://www.eruditor.com/
Libreria Universitaria - http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/
Target - http://www.target.com/
Blackwell - bookshop.blackwell.com

There are so many other places it is available as well. A shameless plug I realize, but it is only one method of impacting those near and far. There are so many ways we can communicate with each other including the internet. Our church has a great website that allows people to connect with each other. I like to think of it as "MySpace on steroids". This form of communication allows us to reach others across all geographical boundaries and to form closer connections.

I am constantly amazed at how the words of a person can spread so quickly and to such a wide audience of people through these forms of communication. My own blog touches people all over the world and it creates connections to so many.

History has seen so many advances in these various forms of communication. The spoken word, the written word, the recorded word and the various types of medium through which the word is communicated. Think of the advances in communication shown below. The list is only a small record of how humans have advanced our ability to communicate with each other.

3500 BC to 2900 BC - Phoenicians develop an alphabet.
1775 BC - Greeks use phonetic alphabet.
1400 BC - Oldest record of writing in China on bones.
1270 BC - The first encyclopedia is written in Syria.
900 BC - 1st postal service for government use in China.
776 BC - 1st use of homing pigeons to send messages.

500 BC to 170 BC
Papyrus rolls and early parchments made of dried reeds.
They are the first portable and light writing surfaces.

200 BC to 100 BC - Human messengers on foot or horseback.
100 - 1st bound books
305 - 1st wooden printing presses invented in China.
1455 - Printing press with metal movable type invented.
1714 - 1st patent for a typewriter.
1793 - 1st long-distance semaphore telegraph line.
1831 - Joseph Henry invents the first electric telegraph.
1835 - Samuel Morse invents Morse code.
1843 - 1st long distance electric telegraph line.
1861 - U.S.A. starts the Pony Express for mail delivery.
1876 - Alexander Bell patents the electric telephone.
1877 - Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
1902 - 1st radio signal transmitted across Atlantic Ocean.
1914 - First cross continental telephone call made.
1925 - 1st experimental television signal transmitted.
1930 - Radio popularity spreads, the "Golden Age" of radio.
1939 - Scheduled television broadcasts begin.
1944 - Government owned computers put into public service.

** The age of Information Science begins **

1958 - Photocopier or Xerox machine is invented.
1969 - ARPANET, the first Internet started.
1979 - 1st cell phone network started in Japan.
1981 - 1st laptop computers sold to public.
1983 - 1st cell phone network started in the United States.
1994 - American government releases control of internet

** WWW born, allowing for communication at light speed **

Today, we sit and wonder how we ever got along without all the devices to communicate with each other. All of it is great, it improves our ability to connect with others. We can learn about each other, find out about each other and perform all of this nearly instantaneously. Prior to the popular use of cellular phones, the one question people never asked on the phone was, "where are you?"

The point being, when you called someone on the phone, the phone was tied to a specific location. Today with cell phones you could be almost anywhere in the world.

In the end, when it comes to 'connecting' with people, the best method is 'face-to-face'. To sit down across a table from someone and share a cup of coffee or a meal remains the greatest form of human communication.

By all means, use the various methods of communication to spread your words and ideas; use the various methods to stay in touch with other people. Yet do not forget to take the bold step in communication; communicate one on one with people and find out how much more you can learn.