I used to be very shy during my primary and secondary school days. I will only talk, ask and answer when I really need to. I was reluctant to express what I feel because I could not do it confidently and was afraid that I would say something wrong. In addition, my English was poor, so I was not able to convey my thoughts well. Then when I was in JC, I had a classmate who earned much respect from his peers and gained popularity from the teachers because he has got effective communication skills. He was able to give convincing impromptu speeches effortlessly and make good presentation when leading his team of councilors and doing Project Work. I realized that effective communication is the key to get you where you want to be in your life.
For me, I am learning how to be an assertive communicator with efficient communication skills. I want to be able to confidently express what I think, feel and believe, standing up for my rights while respecting the rights of others. It is important and essential skill for both successful business and personal relationship. It is also a powerful tool that has the ability to connect and build rapport with other people. Therefore, effective communication skills are to be learned can be learned and will be used at any age.
I used to be super shy in primary school too! very very scared of teachers! Think ability to communicate effectively is not a natural talent, it can be leanrt and improved. Hope we all will be better at it by the end of the course! =)
ReplyDeleteHi ZhiYan =) I am touched by your sharing and enlightenment and i agree with you that effective communication can really do wonders!
ReplyDeleteI did not really feel that you were that shy on the first day of lesson when we did the introduction thing and if i'm not wrong, i do remember that you did share your opinions during class in lesson two so that's good evidences that you are doing good communication.
Nonetheless, that is also the same reason why we are in this class isn't it? To learn "Professional Communication" and to do it really good. Am looking forward to the class to learn more and also hearing more from you too! Seeya around in class.
Hello! I used to be pretty shy back in primary and secondary school too! The first step to changing yourself is to gain the conviction to do so. It also helps if you have examples of outgoing friends to be influenced by and to learn from (like A*v*n haha). Don't be afraid to speak your mind, the results will not be as bad as you imagined. Most importantly, have confidence!
ReplyDeleteHi Zhi Yan,
ReplyDeleteReading what you wrote " I am learning how to be an assertive communicator with efficient communication skills " made me think of the relationship between being assertive and having good communication skills.
A probable outcome of possessing good communication skills would allow us to understand and be understood easily. This would make us more confident as individuals.
However being assertive, our confidence might overshadow our ability to listen to opinions from others.
Personally, I feel that developing good communication skills should be of higher importance; confidence and charisma will follow naturally.
I'm encouraged that you decided to take this course and I agree with Jon: It's good that you would like to bring some change into how to interact more effectively with others.
Keep up the positive attitude, it'll definitely go a long way! :)
Sally and Zurong: Thank you for the encouragement:) Yeah, we will all get better by then!
ReplyDeleteJon: I agree that having confidence is important cause it will affect how you speak and your actions. we can learn different things from different people, but remember learn the correct stuff!!
yourfreunde: Thanks for your comment. I do agree with you that confidence and charisma will follow good communication skills and I am working towards that.
Hi Zhiyan!! =)
ReplyDeleteIt is okay to be shy, and I know how you feel when you are afraid to speak out loud when you realise your English was not as fluent as the rest of the class, as I was brought up from a mandarin speaking family too! It took a while for me to be able to communicate but I guess having an outgoing personality helps a lot.
The reason why I bully Jonathan so much is to make him lose his temper so he would speak up for himself. In his secondary school days he was even quieter. I have several friends like that and we're all good friends because we are not afraid to speak our mind =)
Of course, learning when and what to speak at the correct time is also important, and this course will teach us all these important skills. Hope to hear more from you in class!! You have really interesting views so say them out!