Communicating Effectively – Keeps our Goals on Target

Communication is probably one of the most important aspects of being human and accomplishing our goals. Communication is more than just speaking or writing. Communication is for the purpose of engaging our senses in a manner that communicates information. Communication exists in many forms. Writing, speaking, teaching, artistic expressions such as: crafting, painting, dancing, playing a musical instrument, and even playing sports require multi-sensory communications.

We communicate approval and more-so disapproval. Often we communicate things we’ve heard or read. We communicate through expressions, body language, and by tone of our voice. All of these types of communication and yet most of us are not aware that in each of these creative expressions, we are also communicating with ourselves.

Effective communication with our self is the most important step in becoming a successful communicator. Communicating positively is always an appropriate manner of communication. Yet, at many times we are communicating negatively without being aware that this is occurring. In order to communicate effectively, it is always a good idea to begin by having a positive intention. By having an intention suggests that we are willing to make a commitment to hold ourselves accountable to a higher level of communication. We are also stating that we intend to achieve a specific purpose.

By including a timeframe within our intention, allows us to have enough time to complete the project, task, or goal. Using intentions in this manner helps to keep us positive and moving towards completion of the task. Intentions also keep us focused on the purpose of our communication, goal and task. Intentions with specific timeframes also keep us from getting distracted, losing interest, or giving up. The purpose of an intention is to complete the task, in a positive manner.

Now with that being said, the next thing required to communicate effectively is to get inspired. First of all, there is no one rule-of-thumb that provides inspiration. Inspiration is not a one-size fits all. Some folks are motivated by walking or jogging, or maybe by engaging in some other form of exercise like kick-boxing or tai-kwon-do. Some folks like being in nature; while others are inspired while being at museums, libraries or galleries. For some folks, inspiration comes via meditation. The possibilities of what inspires someone to get motivated will vary from person-to-person and also from task-to-task. Everything is a consideration for inspiration. Find what works for you. If you enjoy artistic communication perhaps working with new colors, using different types of materials (such as paint, canvas, tile, metal, fabric, ribbon, etc.) is inspirational to you. Maybe listening to wonderful compositions by Bach or Debussy will provide you with great inspiration. Perhaps cleaning the house or washing the car, may be just the thing that motivates and inspires you. Whatever the inspiration is, enjoy it!

The next step in effectively accomplishing the goal is deciding what to do next and actually doing that task. If you are writing, begin by having an intention, indicate the purpose you are intending to communicate, set the appropriate timeframe, and either walk over to computer or pick up a pad of paper and pen/pencil and begin composing on the topic you have chosen. Each step in communication, and also in achieving goals, requires making decisions and then taking action.

Notice when we are working on projects that we feel good about: we feel joyful, in charge, empowered, and confident. We are communicating to our Self that we like what we are doing. Time seems to be non-existent. We are enjoying the project so immensely that we have lost all track of the time. When working in the energy of courageousness, acceptance and peace we are more capable of enjoying the associated task and also achieving our goal easily.

However, if you think back to any project that you resisted, you’ll probably notice that the project is most likely incomplete. The minute we began to resist, the project became tedious, unpleasant and difficult. The resistance caused us to become discouraged. Discouragement resulted in sabotage and non-completion of the project. Discouragement is actually a fear of being successful. Just think about any project that you didn’t complete. Notice the feeling that comes up. Most likely the feeling may be one of remorse, sadness, or maybe even a sense of failure. Living with regret prevents us from taking on new projects. Subconsciously, we are afraid to try something new, because we might again fail. Resistance shows us the minute we became intimidated, overwhelmed, or insecure about a project;or maybe we felt threatened, we inevitably stopped working on the project. We also gave up on our goal which is why the project wasn’t completed.

Resistance and fear are also ineffective ways of communicating or motivating our self. The energies of resistance and fear show us we are stuck, and still trying to change what happened.

Decide today to have what you truly would like to experience. Practice holding in mind exactly what you wish to accomplish (positive ONLY outcomes) and keep moving toward your goal or intention. Move from I can’t to I can! You can do it!