Improve Your Reading Skill

Improving your reading can be one of the most important steps you can take in order to enhance your business life as well as your personal life. No matter what reading level you may be at at the present time, you can improve your skills by increasing your reading speed as well as your level of comprehension.

We were taught to read words starting at the left side of the page and proceeding across to the right. As our eyes move across the written page of words, our eyes tend to make short, jumpy movements. Whenever our eyes stop on a word, that is known as fixation. Some people tend to fixate on one word at a time across the page. This makes for slow, awkward reading. The best way you can improve your reading speed is to fixate on a larger group of words at a time. Learn to avoid fixating on words like a, an, the, or, etc. These words are insignificant and can usually be scanned over without missing the point of the story and essay etc. The larger the group of words you learn to fixate on, the faster your reading speed will become automatically.

Another hindrance to speed in reading is the practice of moving your lips while you read. Moving your lips is simply a way of concentrating on the material that you are reading. It is a negative practice that tends to slow your eye movement down. Think about it- what can move faster, your lips or your mouth? You can put an end to this bad habit by consciously making yourself stop moving your lips. As your reading speed increases, you won't be able to hold onto this bad habit because your eyes will be moving too fast.

Lack of concentration is another typical problem area in reading. You can conquer this problem by practicing to improve your concentration every day. Set a short amount of time, such as ten to fifteen minutes on your kitchen timer. Have your book or other chosen reading material ready, and start reading. Block out any background noises that you may hear. Make a conscious effort and ignore everything else in the room except the material you are reading. When the timer goes off, immediately stop reading. Now, test yourself by recalling what you have just read. Check back to the text and see how much information you actually remembered. If your recall wasn't very good, re-read the text and time your self again, then try to recall the information once more. Practice this reading exercise every day and increase your reading time.

Like everything else that is worth doing, practice makes perfect, and the more you read, the better reader you will become!

Tips to Improve your Listening Skills

Most people think communication is all about speaking and devalue the importance of listening. And many others don't realize what a vast difference there is between simply hearing what is being said and really listening.

People who know how to listen learn more, care more, and end up being the ones we want to be around socially as well as professionally.

Want to improve your listening skills?

Understand why you need to listen and remember to practise these tips the next time you conduct a conversation.

Are your eyes listening?
Your eyes are a dead giveaway if you are not listening. When your mind wanders and you begin thinking of something or someone else, your eyes show your disinterest. And the person speaking to you is well aware that you are not paying attention. And this is true even if you don't look away. Blank stares don't conceal boredom!

How can you know if you are a bad listener?

A good listener uses his/ her eyes and mind while listening.
If you find yourself already formulating your next sentence in your mind while someone is speaking to you, you are doing injustice to the conversation. You will get more out of the conversation if you understand, comprehend and assimilate what is being said BEFORE responding.
Good etiquette = listening!

Do you make these common listening mistakes?
The difference between being a good listener versus a great listener is using your heart in addition to your eyes and mind while listening.

Do you do this?

If a friend tells you something is wrong, you immediately tend to give advice or criticism.
If a friend tells you about something wonderful that has happened, you usually chip in with something similar that you have experienced.
Rarely do we share joy or sympathies with pain. Rarely do we just let others speak. To improve your listening skills, practice with those closest to you. When family members or friends share their thoughts and feelings, curtail the urge to relate what you hear to one of your own.

What if a conversation bores you?
I believe 'interested people are interesting'.

Similarly, 'boring people get bored'.

You don't need to know a lot about a subject to have a conversation. You just need to have a desire to learn, understand and make things interesting.

For example, if someone tells you they are a teacher, instead of saying, "That's nice," and moving on to the next topic, try to find out why they are teaching, how they decided on this profession and what their current thoughts on teaching are.
Dig deep and create meaningful conversations.

How do I get others to listen to me?
Listen more intently, question more, and speak with emotion. Build interesting conversations instead of one-way lectures.
Engage people while you speak. Ask questions like, "What do you think?" or "Do you agree?"

Try not to speak continuously for long periods. People tend to have short attention spans.
When you do not listen to what others are saying and only care to listen to your own voice, this is an indication that you really do not care for other people's opinions.
Think about who you really enjoy being around, at work or in your personal life. Usually it is those who really listen and care about you. Are you listening?

"We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

How To Improve Your Speaking Voice

One of the most important components of public speaking is the sound of your voice. It influences the impact of your message, and might even make or break the success of your speech. Fortunately, for many people, good voice quality can be learned.

Instructions :

1. Breathe from your diaphragm – Practice long and controlled exhales. When you speak, use breath to punctuate your point. For example, take a breath at the end of each phrase whether you need to or not. Use that opportunity to pause and let the listeners absorb what you say.
2. Use pitch – Lower pitches generally are more soothing to hear. However, modulating your pitch for emphasis will keep your listeners engaged. Develop your pitch by practicing humming.
3. Moderate your volume – Find out if you speak too loudly or too softly. When you begin speaking, ask your audience how your volume is (each situation is different). Try to stay at the appropriate volume throughout your speech.
4. Moderate your pace – This one is also closely related to breath. If you speak too quickly, people can’t keep up. If you speak too slowly, people will lose interest. Record your speech to determine if you need to change your pace. Get feedback from others.
5. Articulate – Try exaggerating your lip movement to reduce mumbling. Practice articulating tongue twisters and extending and exaggerating vowel sounds. Become an expert at articulating tongue twisters as quickly and crisply as possible. Focus on the ones you find difficult.
6. Practice your speech in advance and determine where you want to pause for a breath. For more emphasis, pause for more than one breath. Mark your breathing points in your notes.
7. Loosen up before you begin. Look side to side. Roll your head in half-circles and roll your shoulders back. Shift your rib cage from side to side. Yawn. Stretch. Touch your toes while completely relaxing your upper body, then slowly stand up, one vertebra at a time, raising your head last. Repeat as needed.
8. Posture – Stand up straight and tall to allow full lung capacity and airflow.
9. Record your voice repeatedly using different ways of speaking. Determine which one is most pleasing.
10. Practice breath control – Take a deep breath, and while you exhale, count to 10 (or recite the months or days of the week). Try gradually increasing your volume as you count, using your abdominal muscles—not your throat—for volume. Don’t let your larynx tense up.

How To Improve Your Communication Skill

Conflict in a relationship is virtually inevitable. In itself, conflict isn’t a problem; how it’s handled, however, can bring people together or tear them apart. Poor communication skills, disagreements and misunderstandings can be a source of anger and distance, or a springboard to a stronger relationship and happier future. Next time you’re dealing with conflict, keep these tips on effective communication skills in mind and you can create a more positive outcome.

1. Stay Focused: Sometimes it’s tempting to bring up past seemingly related conflicts when dealing with current ones. Unfortunately, this often clouds the issue and makes finding mutual understanding and a solution to the current issue less likely, and makes the whole discussion more taxing and even confusing. Try not to bring up past hurts or other topics. Stay focused on the present, your feelings, understanding one another and finding a solution.
2. Listen Carefully: People often think they’re listening, but are really thinking about what they’re going to say next when the other person stops talking. Truly effective communication goes both ways. While it might be difficult, try really listening to what your partner is saying. Don’t interrupt. Don’t get defensive. Just hear them and reflect back what they’re saying so they know you’ve heard. Then you’ll understand them better and they’ll be more willing to listen to you.
3. Try To See Their Point of View: In a conflict, most of us primarily want to feel heard and understood. We talk a lot about our point of view to get the other person to see things our way. Ironically, if we all do this all the time, there’s little focus on the other person’s point of view, and nobody feels understood. Try to really see the other side, and then you can better explain yours. (If you don't 'get it', ask more questions until you do.) Others will more likely be willing to listen if they feel heard.
4. Respond to Criticism with Empathy: When someone comes at you with criticism, it’s easy to feel that they’re wrong, and get defensive. While criticism is hard to hear, and often exaggerated or colored by the other person’s emotions, it’s important to listen for the other person’s pain and respond with empathy for their feelings. Also, look for what’s true in what they’re saying; that can be valuable information for you.
5. Own What’s Yours: Realize that personal responsibility is a strength, not a weakness. Effective communication involves admitting when you’re wrong. If you both share some responsibility in a conflict (which is usually the case), look for and admit to what’s yours. It diffuses the situation, sets a good example, and shows maturity. It also often inspires the other person to respond in kind, leading you both closer to mutual understanding and a solution.
6. Use “I” Messages: Rather than saying things like, “You really messed up here,” begin statements with “I”, and make them about yourself and your feelings, like, “I feel frustrated when this happens.” It’s less accusatory, sparks less defensiveness, and helps the other person understand your point of view rather than feeling attacked.
7. Look for Compromise Instead of trying to ‘win’ the argument, look for solutions that meet everybody’s needs. Either through compromise, or a new solution that gives you both what you want most, this focus is much more effective than one person getting what they want at the other’s expense. Healthy communication involves finding a resolution that both sides can be happy with.
8. Take a Time-Out: Sometimes tempers get heated and it’s just too difficult to continue a discussion without it becoming an argument or a fight. If you feel yourself or your partner starting to get too angry to be constructive, or showing some destructive communication patterns, it’s okay to take a break from the discussion until you both cool off. Sometimes good communication means knowing when to take a break.
9. Don’t Give Up: While taking a break from the discussion is sometimes a good idea, always come back to it. If you both approach the situation with a constructive attitude, mutual respect, and a willingness to see the other’s point of view or at least find a solution, you can make progress toward the goal of a resolution to the conflict. Unless it’s time to give up on the relationship, don’t give up on communication.
10. Ask For Help If You Need It: If one or both of you has trouble staying respectful during conflict, or if you’ve tried resolving conflict with your partner on your own and the situation just doesn’t seem to be improving, you might benefit from a few sessions with a therapist. Couples counseling or family therapy can provide help with altercations and teach skills to resolve future conflict. If your partner doesn’t want to go, you can still often benefit from going alone.

Improve Your Presentation Skills

Nobody is happy coping with the idea of having to present in front of an audience, even more; the people most used to speak in public show clear signs of anxiety and stress in their body language, but they are doing it, and in most cases they are doing it very well. If there are mistakes in the way they are presenting they will be forgiven by the audience.

Presenting in public is an uncomfortable situation; it clearly takes us out of our comfort zone. and there are bad and good news: the bad news is that this is never going to change, we are never going to feel comfortable in such situations, and however there is some good news: we can improve our presentation skills and do a better job in passing our message by following three golden rules

Preparation
We tend to think that a good presentation has to have an elegant story being told by someone with an awesome voice and a very attractive and engaging body language, this is not always true. The best presentation is the one that achieves the goal of transmitting the message. Therefore defining the message is crucial and it has to be kept as top priority when designing the presentation, we have to remind that whoever communicates, changes; defining this change that we want to perform and structuring our presentation is key for success.

Rehearsal
We'll never find our limits until we'll actually try to reach them, once our presentation is ready, we defined that wonderful message and we know how to make it be understood by our audience, we must actually present it. The objective is to find what is not working well, where we find problems, check our voice tone and body language and correct what needs to be corrected.

Performing the rehearsal alone would be enough, but recording it or doing it in front of somebody else will be of a great help.

External aids
Now we know which message we want to pass, how to make it be understood and we have practiced until the limit, we feel we are ready, but there is still one step that needs to be done to make sure our presentation will be perfect and this is setting up some external aids, small things that will increase our level of self confidence.

We could have a couple of people around, find them before we get started with the actual presentation and establish eye contact with them.

We could prepare some notes that we'll keep in our hands, this is highly recommendable for a couple of reasons; the preparation of the notes itself will help us in memorizing the key topics and it will increase our self confidence just by the fact of having something in our hands. If we fear that our audience could think that we are not enough prepared because of we have to hold notes, don't worry, in fact the effect is the opposite and the audience tend to think that this is great because of you have spent some time to get ready for them. The size of the notes is important because of we won't like to have big papers with us; it will be advisable to make it in hard paper and in a size that we can easily manage.

We could make sure that we have a couple of comments or jokes ready to use as an escape valve when necessary.

Following these three steps will dramatically improve our presentation skills; everybody is perfectly able to make a good presentation with a bit of preparation, rehearsal and usage of external aids.