The Secret to Better Communication: Why Non-Writers Should Write

Hey Creators 👋

Linked just released the top 10 in-demand skills and here they are

• Management,

• Communication

• Customer service

• Leadership

• Sales.

A study by McKinsey Global Institute found that productivity increases by 20-25% in organizations with connected employees who communicate effectively. (Source: McKinsey Global Institute, 2016)

In a survey of over 4,000 business professionals, 83% said that poor communication led to delayed or failed projects.

You got the point, communication skills are very very important to succeed in anything, whether it’s a job, business, or personal life.

You might be saying, Gagan, I know this already, tell me if there is a way I can improve my communication skill.

In fact, there are many ways and you already know about them.

You might have read books on it but today we are going to talk about Writing.

What?

Writing, are you kidding me?

How can writing help to improve communication?

I suck at writing.

It’s a big NO-NO for me.

Don’t worry, we will talk about everything.

Why you should write

Writing is the slowest form of communication.

It is very easy to express your emotions like anger, love, and care using speech and it takes a few seconds.

We sometimes say something we shouldn’t have said and regret it the next moment, I am sure you can relate, I have done it many times and I am ashamed of it.

But when you write, you think about it.

You force your brain to come up with ideas and you only write the best idea.

Ok, let’s understand this with an example.

You want to propose to a girl. You are meeting her today evening.

You are all dressed up, wearing your favorite perfume, and bought a gift for her.

Everything is perfect but you are nervous.

You don’t know how to start the conversation, or how will she react?

So, you decide to leave everything at the moment itself.

And here is the time, you two are talking. You are behaving a bit awkwardly.

She is not able to understand what’s going on, you are not listening because you are constantly thinking.

She is getting a feeling that you are not paying attention and it is frustrating for her.

And suddenly, you tell her about your feeling.

She didn’t answer and left.

Now, imagine another scenario, before meeting her, you sit with a pen and paper, I personally prefer a laptop.

You start writing down

• When you first met?

• Why do you like her company?

• What’s one thing about her you absolutely love?

• Why you are the right person for her?

These are just a few examples but you get the point.

You cannot come up with answers to all these questions within a min, it will take time.

You have to think about every point carefully and after maybe 30 min or an hour, you will come up with the answers.

Now, you have super clarity on what to talk about.

Did it make sense?

Writing gives you clarity.

You can communicate far better when you have clarity. Before I meet anyone or attend an office meeting, I always do my homework.

• I write about what I am going to discuss

• I prepare some data so I can present it to them

This gives a message to another person that you are prepared, you know what you are talking about.

If you want to own the conversation, you should know what you are going to talk about.

But, I suck at writing

I too but I write daily.

I am a software engineer, and I have done my studies in Hindi medium. English is not my first language, so I also suck.

But I write daily. I write in the way that I am talking to someone.

Practice, practice, practice

If you are a phone addict, write on your phone.

Remember, you are not writing to impress someone, you are writing for better clarity.

You don’t need to show it to someone.

What can I write about?

Write about your feelings.

Angry, write about it. Who made you angry, how much do you hate that person, and how are you feeling now?

There is another advantage of documenting your feelings, you can revisit them later when you are feeling normal.

And you will be surprised to see that those feelings don’t matter to you now. You don’t hate that person anymore, in fact, you love them the most.

Capturing your thought and feeling makes you a better human.

If you like reading, write about what you learned from the book. You can refer to this as notes later.

Listen to podcasts, watch good videos, read, and document your experience and you will have tons of stuff to write.

You will realize gradually your writing is improving and so is your communication.

Best advantage - Clarity in thoughts

You can think faster and I tell you, people around you will notice and start asking you about your new level of clarity.

How do I start?

Get into a habit of writing every day.

Ideally, you should fix a time but if you are reluctant, write anytime.

• Traveling, start writing,

• Getting bored, start writing.

• Using your phone in the toilet, start writing.

Don’t make it boring, make it interesting.

You might become so good and create your own blog, start a newsletter like this and join Twitter, and start making money.

Endless possibility, right?

Cheers!!

Gagan ‘Write Daily’ Thakur

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