If you want to make decent money, you’re going to need to know how to build communication skills. There’s no other way around it. Do you ever see someone well off with very weak communication skills? We don’t.
Even in a profession such as engineering, which is known for people with weaker communication skills, you still need to be able to go through rigorous interview processes to get the high paying job offer. Companies just won’t hand out money to anyone.
March 2, 2024Why you should learn how to build communication skills
Having better communication skills will make you perform better at work, make you more likable, and open you up to opportunities for advancement in your career. In short, building communication skills will make you more money.
Along with more money, building better communication skills will strengthen your relationships when it comes to dating, friends, and family.
There really is no reason not to build solid communication skills.
Keep reading to learn about the 7 tips we have on how to build communication skills.
Socialize with your friends
Having a solid social circle and socializing with your friends is a must.
Going out with your friends is a great way to work on your social skills and learn how to build communication skills.
Story telling, jokes, wit, charisma are all developed through events such as social outings.
Try to maintain a decent social life with your friends where possible.
Go out to lunch with your colleagues, dinners with your friends, and party every now and then.
You’ll find that doing this will effectively increase your communication skills and also make you more refreshed to work even harder.
Start by going through your phone and hitting up some friends to hang out.
And if you don’t have friends, start doing things you want or identify the type of friends you want. Then the next step is to be where you would want your friends to be and work from there. Places like school, the gym, a cafe or bookstore is a great place to start. Specific team sports that provide a social outing are good for this also.
Be clear and concise when speaking
When speaking you should aim to speak in a clear and concise manner. Talk slowly, loudly, and confidently whenever communicating. It’s hard to understand when people start talking fast.
Next time you find yourself aware in a situation, listen to how the other person communicates. Are they easy to understand? Does listening to them make you feel good? Do they project what they’re saying in a clear and concise manner?
If so, then you just found yourself a good example of what to copy so that you know how to build communication skills.
Read books
Reading books has many benefits and learning how to build communication skills is one of them.
Reading provides you another lens in which you can see the world, in a clearly articulated manner.
When you read books for a long period of time, you start making connections that you normally wouldn’t be able to. (It takes someone who’s read books for awhile to understand this) But when you do start making those connections, you see the world in a new light and spark an unlimited sense of curiosity.
Facts and opinions are presented in books in clear and articulate manners. Identify how the sentences are structured in the books and use those sentence structures in how you present yourself.
Journal your thoughts
Journaling your thoughts daily is a great exercise to articulate yourself on paper. Either use a Microsoft Word Doc file or buy a physical journal and start jotting down your thoughts, what you did, what you plan to do, and so on.
You have the chance to articulate your thoughts when you journal. Being able to do this clearly and effectively will carry over into your communication skills.
When you combine journaling with reading books, you will eventually notice out of nowhere how well you connect and articulate your thoughts.
It’s a very beautiful thing to accomplish, which takes time, but once you do, the benefits are unparalleled.
Be more confident
Ever notice when you feel more confident, you present and project yourself better?
When you look good, you feel good.
When you feel good, you perform good.
It’s all a positive feedback loop in which every action reinforces the belief and behavior of another.
Some things that will help you become more confident so that you can have better communication skills are:
- Dressing better
- Exercise such as lifting weights
- Accumulate wins in your career
- Constantly practicing and working each day
- Reading books
- Journaling
- Socializing
- Eating right
Ensure your diet, health, and sleep are in check
From a career standpoint, no one really talks about the connection between diet and the output it has on our performance.
This needs to be talked about more.
Ensuring that your diet, health, and sleep are in check will ensure that you’re well rested and in optimal health to be confident and project solid communication skills.
Eat Whole Foods, a high protein and nutritious diet, and add some solid exercise in and you’ll notice how much an effect it has on your overall wellbeing.
Practice and Execute
None of this means anything if you don’t practice and execute on what we covered.
Day by day, you should strive for the following to build solid communication skills at work:
- Being clear and concise
- Read books
- Journal
- Be more confident
- Have solid diet, sleep, and health
- Practice!
You will not get better at any of these just by reading this, but practicing on what we’ve covered.
Practice communication skills in the mirror and video if you need to so that you can study yourself for interviews and presentations.
You’ll find that when you do this for the first time, it’ll be awkward and you’ll use many fillers such as “Uhh” or “Umm”.
This is totally fine to start off and tapers down as you practice, but the important thing is that you practice on what was covered.
If you need additional help, check out our mock interviewing service where we cover how to effectively practice behavioral and technical questions for high paying jobs.
ULTMECHE Services
About the author
Kazuyoshi Fujimoto, PE
Founder | Engineering Career Coach | Principal Mechanical Engineer
Kazu oversees all of ultmeche’s engineering services. He provides consulting such as resume reviews, rewrites, mock interviews, and all services career related. Additionally, Kazu performs consulting work regarding Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense. Kazu is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of California and has 9+ years of experience in Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense.
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