Communication Skills Tip: The Two Steps

When I was a teenager, I went to a performing arts high school. My major was theatre. Two weeks every year, however, we could trade in our focus for another performing art. I chose dance. Every day for two weeks I'd spend four grueling hours at the ballet bar trying to get on my toes or do a plié with some form of grace. Truth is, two weeks was never enough time to get past the sore muscles and over the learning hump into a pirouette. I did learn, however, that for every two steps back, I was beginning to take a leap forward. I am sure that if I had continued to study dance along with theatre I could have become a trained dancer--maybe not a professional ballerina, but definitely a dancer. I have found with most of my coaching clients that learning a new language or perfecting a presentation skill can sometimes be frustrating. The more information they are juggling, the more confused they could get. I also have seen that with discipline and desire, most of them make it past the first two weeks. For every lost word or every forgotten gesture, desire and determination were able to allow them to improvise until they found themselves gracefully communicating. Just remember that whether you are learning to dance, developing a new language or attaining new communication skills, you can do it with the right amount of practice, persistance and passion. Stay with it and you'll be dancing your way forward. To be added to Lanartco's Communication Performance Tip of the Week, please connect to this link or send your email address to info@lanartco.com.