PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT

You have probably heard the old adage “practice makes perfect.” As a musician for almost three-quarters of my life, I can assure you that practice does not make perfect; rather, practice makes permanent.

If you do something over and over a certain way, you create pathways in your brain, as well as “muscle memory,” that cause you to always do that thing in that manner.

Communicating is no different.

Regardless of your method of communication, the more you do it, the better and more confident you become. This improvement and confidence come from repeatedly practicing and developing your skills.

It’s easy to say you just need to practice communicating and you will be better at it. While that is partially true, you need to practice consistently in order to build skills that will build your confidence. Just like in music, if you practice it incorrectly, you will learn incorrectly, and then when it is performance time, you will falter.

Now, that doesn’t mean you will fall off a stage or totally miss the mark, but you may not be able to deliver your message with the impact you desire without practicing in the right way.

Earlier this year, I was involved in a speaking event. In the three months leading up to the event, the group of speakers had a few chances to get together and rehearse our speeches so that we would feel more comfortable in front of the audience on the day of the event. I am so grateful to have had the chance to “perform” my speech twice before the day of the event. While it wasn’t complete at the rehearsals, I was able to time it, listen to it out loud, cut out redundancy, and get real time feedback from the others in the room. This practice time was invaluable and helped me to feel calm and confident on game day.

On a smaller scale, when I need to make a phone call to a client, I will often say what I need to say out loud before dialing the phone. That way I already know what I am going to say when they pick up. The uttering of my call helps my mind to focus and to know that it can say what needs to be said because it has just heard it.

It may seem silly to practice the words you will say on a simple phone call, but you might be surprised at how much easier it makes calling people. Once you get used to practicing simple conversations like that, you will build more confidence in your ability to effectively get a message to your audience.

The same goes for your writing style. These days, so much of our communication is done via written words. It can be tough to refine your message if you don’t give it a few tries before publishing your content.

Whether you are new to communicating with an audience, or a seasoned pro, remember to give yourself the benefit of practice so that you can become a skilled, successful communicator!

To learn more about how to effectively communicate in various situations, click HERE to get on the waiting list for my group coaching program! Prefer a 1 on 1 experience instead? Click HERE to sign up to be notified when enrollment opens! And don’t forget to follow me on LinkedIn!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ciao for now!