Brian Tracy argues communication is the foundational skill for better relationships and says it's learnable like any other habit. He covers five practices: investing time, listening carefully, being clear, tailoring your message to the person, and keeping it brief. Meaning gets lost in back-and-forth interpretation, so precision matters.
Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life. Hello, I'm Brian Tracy, and today I want to talk to you about something that you need to do if you want to build better relationships, whether that be at work or in your personal life. I often get asked this question, Brian, what is the key to building successful relationships? And my answer is always the communication. Much of your success in life is going to come from your ability to communicate well with other people. Successful people know how to communicate and have taken a lot of time to improve communication skills. Social intelligence, which is the ability to interact with others, is one of the most respected intelligences in our society. If you want a raise at your job, you're going to have to ask for one and be prepared to communicate why you deserve it. Want to let someone know that they've upset you or hurt you in some way? You're going to have to be able to effectively communicate with them to ensure they understand how they made you feel in communicating well with another person. Time is the critical factor. The value of a relationship can increase for both of you and the other person depending on the amount of time that you invest. When you take the time to focus on the important issues of a relationship, you open the channels of communication. And when you listen attentively, calmly, quietly, and with total attention, you demonstrate the respect you have for the other person and you deepen the level of trust between you. Effective communication starts with being clear in your own mind about what you want to say. Then be clear when you deliver the message, saying it slowly and patiently. Finally, make sure that the other person hears the message that you sent. When you communicate with another person, this is what happens. The first thing is you send a message into the air in the form of words. Then the words are received by the other person, who interprets them in their own mind based on their own thoughts, feelings, and so on. After that, the other person formulates a response and sends the response back. You then receive the response, translate that into meaning and significance, and send back your response. It's easy to see how, in the midst of all that back and forth, the original meaning of your message could get lost based on the other person's interpretation of your words. This is why it is so critical to be clever and concise in how you word things. If you give vague examples or don't elegantly express your feelings and you leave an open opportunity for someone else to analyze what you meant and ultimately come to an incorrect conclusion. Effective communication is something that takes time to master and which can change depending upon the person who you are talking to. The key is to understand who you are speaking to, what your ultimate goal of this conversation is. Then determine the very best route to get that message to the individual. By consciously doing this, you'll notice that all of your relationships will slowly begin to improve over time. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in discussing how to build better relationships, share it with your friends or anyone else who might benefit from the information. Before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends and colleagues. Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life. Now, I'd like to hear from you. So my question today is can you identify one person in your life with whom you need to communicate better? Better? What steps will you take to repair that relationship? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to get back to you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future, take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in helping you achieve your personal or professional goals, subscribe to my channel. Like this video and share this video with your friends or anyone else who might benefit from this information.
