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A Skill Everyone Should Master

We all possess an innate desire to communicate with others. This drive to share our thoughts along with the necessity of trading information with people in our daily lives can often get us into trouble if we do not carefully consider how to convey what we mean to say. Our ability or lack thereof, to communicate well can have a large impact on our quality of life. All our relationships depend on it from our mate to our landlord to the boss, and our teachers and professors, we must express what we have to say in a way that the other party hears what we intended. Accurate, effective communication is essential to our overall success in virtually every aspect of our lives. Most of us have not mastered the art of communication; however, this skill is essential to quality of life.
Most people think they can get their point across well enough. They most likely do not even realize how much of their communications are misinterpreted. Mr. Burke, Charles, I would like to invite you to explore this theory in your own interactions. Ask people for their feedback on what you communicated to them to see how they perceived it through their unique perspective. I have done this in a group therapy environment and all participants received a lesson on honing communication skills.
Everyone has a different point of view. This is due to many factors, such as environment, the values that we learned, and the people they have met in their life. We all have developed preconceived notions about various subjects, and this alters our perception a little. These seemingly minor differences may not seem important, however; in many situations, a slight misunderstanding will cause problems to arise.
Suppose we were to send, a young woman into a garage to ask for new tires, but at a price that she can afford in this current economy. The attendant on duty is from Minnesota, and has a very different set of values than our young woman. She grew up on a farm; he has always been a city boy. That...