A while ago I did some work with an excellent communications coach. Two things I learned from the coach have really stuck with me, and have become a daily part of how I practice being a more effective communicator. So I thought I would share them with you:

1. Finish your sentences. I have a bad habit of starting a sentence and then interrupting myself because something else has occurred to me. Instead of stutter-starting, I have learned that if I just commit to the sentence I've started, I can almost always get to all of whatever it is I need to say.

2. Tell shorter stories. It's tempting to tell longer stories because it feels like I need to add lots of detail for folks to get the point -- or sometimes just because it's fun to talk. But people are smarter than I give them credit for, and have short attention spans. So keeping my stories under two minutes is a constant target for me.

These two changes have made a big difference for me.

A while ago I did some work with an excellent communications coach. Two things I learned from the coach have really stuck with me, and have become a daily part of how I practice being a more effective communicator. So I thought I would share them with you:

1. Finish your sentences. I have a bad habit of starting a sentence and then interrupting myself because something else has occurred to me. Instead of stutter-starting, I have learned that if I just commit to the sentence I've started, I can almost always get to all of whatever it is I need to say.

2. Tell shorter stories. It's tempting to tell longer stories because it feels like I need to add lots of detail for folks to get the point -- or sometimes just because it's fun to talk. But people are smarter than I give them credit for, and have short attention spans. So keeping my stories under two minutes is a constant target for me.

These two changes have made a big difference for me.