Everything goes wrong! You wake up late! Spill your breakfast on yourself! It’s summer and the A/C isn’t working! Get caught in a traffic jam! And then you get to work!
And everything that has happened up to that point is whirling through your mind! How do you think that affects you and your interactions with other people?
I call it “mind chatter” and talk about it in my book. It can have a subconscious but direct result on how you act and how you are perceived.
A study by the National Science Foundation (USA) determined that the average person has between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day. That means anywhere from 35 to 48 thoughts per minute in a 24-hour period. And considering most of us sleep for some time, that’s a lot of thoughts!
The study continues that 95% of those thoughts are repeated daily and reflect our mindset. So if that mindset is present when you communicate, it makes sense that that will certainly be displayed in the words you use, your tone of voice and your body language. Imagine two or more people communicating and all those thoughts coming together and adding different meanings to what they really want to say.
What can you do? Start by being mindful that those thoughts are in your mind and make an effort to choose a “role” that is best suited for the moment. That’s why the “Identify” step in my four-step process is so critical to success.
Although the name of author seems to be in dispute, the essence of the words is evident:
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
To Being Heard, Linda
About the author
Linda Sherwin
Linda Sherwin has over 20 years extensive experience in corporate facilitations, coaching, keynotes and presentations in domestic and international markets.
Known for her passionate presentation style and high energy, Linda teaches her clients how to tap into their own personal effectiveness to improve the bottomline by encouraging authentic communication at all levels of the organization.
Linda is a published author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller All the Workplace is a Stage: Acting Techniques to Create Award-Winning Business Performance.
