As we enter the final stretch of 2013 and you reflect on another year gone by, it’s worth asking the question: How well has your communication served you this year?

The fact is that our communication in 2013—as in years past—had an enormous impact on our quality of life. That’s because whether good or bad, effective or ineffective, healthy or dysfunctional, communication is how we make our life.

But if you’re like most people, an assessment of your communication is likely to be discouraging. With overflowing inboxes, incessant text messages, and ceaseless social media conversations, we’re sending more messages than ever, but we’re spending less time on each message. That’s a recipe for trouble because such a hypercommunicating environment doesn’t lead to productive and meaningful connections; it leads to rushed, distracted, and error-prone interactions.

The ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time should have ushered in the golden age of communication. Unfortunately, it has all too often scattered our attention and made our communication worse. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I wrote Stop Talking, Start Communicating because sensible, immediately usable solutions for better interactions with the most important people in our lives are well within our grasp. Fortunately, the most effective —and often the easiest—way to reduce the gap between the life we have and the life we want is to improve our communication. One conversation at a time, we create our reality. And while we can’t control everything that happens to us, we can control our words.

Good communication = good relationships = good life. Finish strong this year by working to improve your communication this holiday season, and watch positive consequences ripple throughout your life.

Question: What strategies do you use to make sure your communication serves you well? Please leave a comment below to continue the discussion.

Signed copies of Stop Talking, Start Communicating are now available online from Brace Books.

Originally posted on mouthpeaceconsulting.com.

Communication Changes Everything

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