Apart from communicating to others about yourself based on your speech and behavior, the quality of the communications you have builds the world around you. Having quality chats with your family strengthen family bonds. Also, choosing to forfeit one or two hours of sleep to have breakfast with your family conveys how important your family is to you and even by saying nothing at all! Apart from kinship, communication is the basis to how we form our network of friends. It is through communication that you understand each other better and find common topics and interests. Communication is exactly how you find out if someone is of the "same frequency" as you. Definitely, it is through communication that you form strong relationships and understanding between friends and family.
Effective communications is definitely a vital skill for one's success. For me, effective communication is important to me because I value relationships with my friends and family. I feel it sad that for many people, they tend to communicate less with their family as they grow older. As for me, I constantly ensure that I engage in meaningful and quality conversations with my family members. Also, my friends are important to me. I communicate their priority in my life by taking time and effort to organise gatherings and regularly text messages to show that I care. My friends have always been there for me when I needed them and when I was in the pits, they stood by me and helped me regain my confidence. They have effectively communicated to me that they care, without saying anything at all, and I greatly appreciate it.
Effective communications is also the key to all romantic relationships. My boyfriend and I had been together for four years. We started out rocky as we choose to assume that the other party shoud know what to do or what to say. I'm happy to say we don't quarrel as much as we used to now after bothering to speak our minds freely and comfortably. I guess this is the problem with girls, we just expect the guys to know what to do and what to say and when they don't, we make a volcano out of it. I am ashamed to say that I'm guilty of it sometimes but I guess it makes life easier if we just tell the guys directly what we want. For example, instead of hinting, why not just tell him what you want for your birthday or christmas instead of dropping hints that he probably don't get at all. The most common example would be us (girls) asking the guys, shall we have western or japanese for dinner? He answers western and the our face will turn black (because we wanted japanese). Get the drift? Effective communication is important, I've learned to just tell him what I want! :)
Another reason for the importance of effective communication for me is with respect to my future occupation. I'm going to be a teacher and I choose to teach in a Secondary school. My choice of teaching at a secondary school is because I believe this is the time that teenagers face alot of problems and this is when temptations are strong and incentives to turn to deviance is high. Who I am today is very much shaped by the teachers and friends I have in my four years at Secondary School. Effectively communicating to students that you care about their life and future is important for any teachers out there who wants to make a difference. This can be done by having quality chats and even simple actions like having meals with students during their recess time as well as after school. Also, obviously being a teacher means having to effectively bring message across and helping students to understand their subject. In order to achieve the primary objective of a teacher, effective communication is vital.
In a nutshell, effective communication plays a big role in everyone's life. Like it or not, you're communicating to others all the time.
Alright, Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Have a great holiday! Don't forget that to communicate effectively this CNY to all your relatives and friends! (Even on the roads when you're driving! Yes, you are communicating to others when you cut lanes without signaling! So don't spoil the festive mood for anyone!)
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Hi Jack. Yes you are right! I did develop a first impression of you based on your communication skills. I feel that you are a confident girl and that you are able to deliver your message across effectively. That means that you do possess effective communication skills! Give yourself a pat on the back:) I do agree with you especially about effective communication skills being important for relationships. This is in fact true of many relationships today. If couples could put aside their ego and communicate their needs, likes and dislikes, there would be fewer fights and break-ups. LOL and for the hinting part, I think girls have changed so much, they have started beating up their boyfriends if they do not give them what they want. HAHA. And yes I can see you as a teacher. You are the type that would get your students' attention immediately. So that's another pat on the back for you. On the whole, I enjoyed reading your post. Thank you Jack.
ReplyDeletePS: Can I call you Jackie? I find that cuter for you LOL.
Hello Loshini! Thanks. Everyone calls me Jackie at home since my Brother's name is Jack. :D
DeleteThanks for the compliments, I'm flattered. The same goes to you. :) Yes, girls are more verbal and violent now. I see girlfriends screaming at the boyfriends along the streets or in the mall sometimes. That's a form of communication too. Rather effective in showing how piss off they are with their boyfriend and how fierce they (we) can be. :D
Hey Jaq. I like that you have an entire paragraph on romantic relationships lol. Nobody else has that. Well I certainly agree with many of the points you brought up in your post. 'At every point of time, we are communicating.' That's quite a powerful line to me.
ReplyDeleteI realise that I too, like Loshini, can sense a 'teacher' vibe off you. It's not an impression that I consciously pondered about. My brain somehow picked up on some of these communication cues, both verbal and non-verbal, to formulate my opinion of you. Perhaps that's why it is so important to get communication right. Because people are judging you before they know it themselves.
When I do really think about it, simple things like how you always smile when you speak, you have lighthearted snippets interspersed with your serious points and maybe even just the way you speak and all these equate you to 'teacher' in my head.
Happy cny to you too, Jaq!
Yes! Everyone's judging everyone all the time! From the clothes we wear to the things we say. It's like there's a really pretty girl sitting at the cafe and you when you walk nearer and hear her speak, your positive impression of her might just shatter. :P
DeleteMost people laugh at me when I tell them I'm going to pursue a career in education (mainly thanks to my height). But it's okay,I can be really fierce. :P
Hey Jacq, Happy Lunar New Year to you!
ReplyDeleteI think you may have went overboard on the word limit, but heck, it was a really enjoyable read! Light-hearted and easy to identify with :D
I like how you constantly emphasise on the fact that we're communicating all the time; via things we do or may not do. It's really amzaing how you may actually "speak" to someone just by sitting at the couch and not help with setting up the dinner table for instance.
I can really feel your passion for entering the teaching profession and I wish you all the best for it! You'd make a fine teacher (:
Thanks Kristyn!
DeleteSorry for the word count but I couldn't help it! There was just so much to say. :)
I hope I'll make a fine teacher too. Hopefully my height won't be too much of a disadvantage!
Thank you, Jacq, for this detailed and yet comprehensive post. Your ideas are well articulated and clearly developed. I can also sense the passion in your exposition; it's clear that communication is not something you take lightly. That's especially true as you share your experience with your boyfriend, and as you explain how you feel even closer since your communication has become more effective. (I do wonder though about some of the generalizations. Do you really think all girls want it one way and boys another?) I do have a question though. In the area of bf/gf relations, which specific skill/skill set is it that you think is most important?
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your discussion of your future career and how important good comm skills are for a teacher. You elucidate on that by mentioning "having quality chats" and sharing meals with students, which seems to indicate that you see interpersonal skills as being vital.
This is a fine post that would have been improved simply by pinpointing more specifically those skills/skill sets that you see as being vital needs as you move forward.
Do you see what I'm stating?
Thanks Brad.
DeleteI don't think all girls want things one way while boys want want it in another but what I meant is sometimes we tend to assume or expect too much without communicating what is it that we really want resulting in unhappiness and ultimately quarrels. I have made a generalisation though. :) In the area of boy girl relationship, one specific skill set that is important will be active listening. Listening to what the other party has to say and respond appropriately. Not forgetting to "listen out" for the implied and hints!
Thanks for the advice Brad, will be more specific in my upcoming blogpost and edit this one. :)
Hi, Jacq!
ReplyDeleteI wish that I am much younger so that you'll be my teacher haha I like the way you've composed this post! It touches a lot on personal relationships with family and friends, which is more important than anything else, in my opinion. Very often, we think about how to communicate effectively to get the job done, but we have neglected the fact that it is important that we spend time having conversations with our family and friends, and effective communication plays an important role in this aspect as well. Thank you for sharing this! It is has definitely impacted me ( :
Yes, family is so important. Chinese New Year is one of the best time to communicate with our relatives too. I have to admit I don't exactly adore my aunts but I love my cousins!
DeleteI can be a very fierce teacher! Are you sure you still want to be my student? :P