Communication Skills Power

Here are the top 7 communication articles I found today on blogs around the internet. Check out these inspirational and educational blog posts.

1. A great post where communication consultant speak on How to communicate your credibility to generate business.

http://www.angelabetts.com/blog/2007/05/04/credible-business-communication/

2. Ian’s Messy Desk has a good post about controlling your body language for effective communication.

http://www.ismckenzie.com/05/15/control-your-body-language-for-effective-communication/

3. Lindsey Pollak talks on Why Shy People Make Great Networkers in her cool blog.

http://lindseypollak.blogspot.com/search/label/Huffington%20Post 

4. Learn boosting your self esteem with Emotional Freedom Techniques from the EFT Joy blog.

http://eftjoy.com/blog/category/shyness/

5. Social Skills for Children with ADD found in Adult ADD Strengths blog.

http://adultaddstrengths.com/2005/10/08/social-skills-for-children-with-add/

6. Zerointelligenc.net talks about school is good for building social skills.

http://www.zerointelligence.net/archives/000520.php

7. Elliot Lee has an interesting post about Geek’s Social Skills.

http://www.intelliot.com/blog/archives/2004/03/11/geeks-social-skills/

Everyone knows shyness is a problem that needs to be. solved. But how does one go about it?

The first thing that a shy person has to acknowledge is that he tends to avoid social situations because of his shyness. Taking that first step is a major factor that helps in solving shyness. The irony is that many shy people actually want to be involved in group interaction but do not know how.

Second, a shy person should try to immerse himself in specific social situations to give himself, and others, a chance to interact. A shy person who attends a party will probably hover at the periphery for a few minutes then leave. To counter this, a shy person must give himself more time to meet people.

At a party, he could post himself at the buffet and strike up a conversation with someone about the food and drinks being served. Nothing heavy like politics, just simple chitchat to tide things over until he can find someone who has something in common with him. He might run into someone he knows and turn to that person for a new topic to talk about. He can ask simple questions like: how is your family? Little things like this will help the shy person become more used to interacting with other people by degrees.

It does no good for a shy person to try to arrive late at the occasion, hoping that the less time he spends in the social event, the better it will be for him. That is counter-productive. A better solution is to arrive much earlier than expected, so he can get a chance to meet more people. Of course, this may be daunting to a shy person, so perhaps he can try arriving 30 minutes after the party starts first. Then he can move up to arriving right on time, and eventually to arriving maybe 10 minutes before the expected time.

Shy people are known for maintaining a smaller comfort zone than people who are more confident. This means they have fewer friends and acquaintances with whom they feel comfortable. Usually, a shy person will engage in routine activities with this small network of people over and over again because they do not like to try new things out with new people.

Though a shy person should not pressure himself about overcoming his shyness, he could opt to expand his circle to include new contacts and acquaintances. He could try new things, like hobbies or sports that people in his new circle are fond of pursuing. This is good, because not only does it give the shy person something new to do, it gives him something new to talk about with his old circle of friends aside from the same old routine.

Although it would be nice if there were a magic pill for solving shyness, the fact is, there is none. Still, by following the tips above you can make steady progress and enjoy a happy social life.
free communication skills report

Do you consider yourself a shy adult? Join the club - according to Bernardo J. Carducci, Ph.D., 40% to 45% of all adults think they are shy. The problem of shyness, thus, may be more prevalent than many people think.

Cause of shyness:

Why are some people shy while others seem more confident? People are shy because they are quite preoccupied with what they are feeling and thinking, and how their body reacts when they are exposed to certain social situations. Many times, the shy person may perceive that he is being unfairly treated even when other people are not making fun of him - this is because of his shyness. The shy person may then avoid the people or the situation that caused him to feel bad.

For example, if he associates colleagues who gather at the water cooler and who start laughing with a negative thought (such as: they are laughing at me), he will probably avoid going to the water cooler or even stop talking to his co-workers altogether. It does not matter if the thought is based on reality or not: the point is, the person thinks this and obsesses about it, thus making his mild shyness much worse.

Effects of shyness:

A shy adult will have a hard time progressing in the adult world where he is expected to work independently. Such a person may find it difficult to talk to clients about projects assigned to him. Or he may dither about approaching a superior for a well-deserved raise. So, we can see that shyness may bar a person from progressing in his occupation. He may brood about this and become depressed. So he winds up with two problems: shyness and depression.

Shyness can also affect the interpersonal relationships a shy person has (or does not have) with others. Colleagues may think he is weird because he does not join in normal everyday conversations. He may find even a simple greeting with a woman he likes to be a hardship, so he becomes lonely.

Even simple chores like going to the Laundromat or the grocery store could be avoided because he does not want to talk to other people. His relationship with his own relatives might suffer because he does not feel confident even with them. So family and friends may not understand why he avoids them - such is the impact of shyness on relationships.

When does shyness crop up?

Carducci believes that shyness generally manifests itself when the shy person is going through a period of change. A person may become shy when his marriage ends, or he gets laid off from his job, or he relocates to a new neighborhood. More severe causes of shyness could be the death of a loved one, or a tragedy such as when his childhood home burns down. The point is, the change is pretty drastic so the person resorts to withdrawal to protect himself. Shyness is often a coping mechanism that adults resort to, to prevent being hurt again.

free communication skills report