SPEAK UP!

A week or so ago I was speaking with one of my good friends, she mentioned how she struggles in social situations to keep a conversation going with someone she just met. She can start the conversation off, but after a few minutes of talking there comes that uncomfortable pause, the ‘um, wells…’, then, dead silence. A few brief nonsensical sentences later she then slinks away to find someone else to converse with.

After that conversation with my friend, I started thinking about one of my favorite people in history, Dale Carnegie. I don’t know much about him, he was a salesman but I know he wrote, taught, and developed techniques for people to use to communicate better with each other.

Dale Carnegie was not related to the rich and famous family of Carnegie Hall fame.

He was born in 1888 in Missouri. His most successful book was entitled: How to Win Friends and Influence People. This book provides the reader with thirty keys points of how to be successful, originally in business situations, but each of these ideas can be used today to improve your communication with others.

Think of a situation you find yourself; meeting a stranger at a laundry mat, pumping gas, standing in line at a bank, attending a gathering at the home of a neighbor, do you strike up a conversation with this stranger? Are you comfortable to do this? I don’t believe many people are comfortable, oh sure we can do the cursory conversation as my friend did above, but to maintain an in depth conversation?

Now add into this equation, our children; teens, young adults, who are ‘glued’ to their mobile devices. They NEVER speak to anyone – never mind face-to-face, they don’t even call each other anymore! Everything is texting, twittering, and whatever else is out there. They don’t even use whole words! A new language has been developed for texting.

What will it be like in 10 years? 20 years? Will we speak at all?

I have read as a society we have already lost the skill of letter writing. Now are we in the process of losing speech?

I’m glad to have my copy of Dale Carnegie’s book – it may be needed in the near future.

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. ~ Dale Carnegie

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. ~ Dale Carnegie