Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

If your face is going to “talk” for you anyway, you might as well have it communicate something positive

The ability to connect with others begins with understanding the value of people.

No matter what your goals are, connecting can help you

the ability to communicate and connect with others is a major determining factor in reaching your potential. To be successful, you must work with others. And to do that at your absolute best, you must learn to connect.

Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them

Sonya Hamlin in How to Talk So People Listenadvises that between hearing and sight, sight is the more important and powerful sense when it comes to communication. She wrote, “As a species, we remember 85 to 90 percent of what we see but less than 15 percent of what we hear. That means that if you want me to learn and remember, you must also support your words by showing your ideas to me. .

I do that by going through my Connection Checklist, which includes the following questions:
INTEGRITY—Did I do my best?
EXPECTATION—Did I please my sponsor?
RELEVANCE—Did I understand and relate to the audience?
VALUE—Did I add value to the people?
APPLICATION—Did I give people a game plan?
CHANGE—Did I make a difference?

message you try to convey must contain a piece of you. You can’t just deliver words. You can’t merely convey information. You need to be more than just a messenger. You must be the message you want to deliver. Otherwise, you won’t have credibility and you won’t connect.

If I try to communicate:
Something I knowbut do not feel, my communication is dispassionate.
Something I knowbut do not do, my communication is theoretical.
Something I feelbut do not know, my communication is unfounded.
Something I feelbut do not do, my communication is hypocritical.
Something I dobut do not know, my communication is presumptuous.
Something I dobut do not feel, my communication is mechanical.

Thought: something we know
Emotion: something we feel
Action: something we do
I believe those three components are essential to connect with others as well.