Allow me to comment on the obvious for a minute: No matter who you are, effective communication skills are a good thing to have. I think most people put themselves in the good category but if I had to guess, I’d say that they fancy themselves witty email writers or they interact with people a lot on Facebook. That’s not effective communication, just so you know.

I’ve run into this a lot lately, for better or worse. It’s also hard to communicate with someone who goes into some kind of situation with a preconceived notion on the outcome, or worse, aren’t really interested in the other person’s opinion about the topic at hand and just want to hear themselves speak. It’s always easiest for me to engage in a conversation, particularly if there’s an opposing viewpoint, to see the other person’s viewpoint first before making a case for my own. I don’t see this often, but it’s helped me a lot. Not simply trying to blindly debate your own eventually belabored opinion at someone will make you take more away from the conversation than the hollow sense of victory you might achieve from bullying someone into submission. Sure, it takes all kinds and eventually you’ll wind up dealing with those who aren’t interested in anything but their own opinion. It’s up to you to decide if there’s anything you truly need from that situation (instructions, etc.) and if there isn’t, move on.

But in the end, isn’t it just a bunch of words? No, not really. Pick and choose the words you say carefully, but pick the words you don’t say even more carefully because if you don’t say it, someone will think it or say it for you. Part of me being a blogger is that I don’t talk a lot, but I strive to be well-rounded. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when I eventually open my mouth.