Do you consider yourself an effective communicator? Do you ever have a hard time explaining your point of view in conversation with your spouse or co-workers? Are you getting the correct message from others when engaged in conversation? There are a few things you can do to ensure you're sending and receiving the right messages.

You see, as humans we have this natural urge to finish the sentences of others and fill in all the blanks. First off, if you are one who catches them self interrupting somebody to finish their sentence, you're already heading in the wrong direction. Regardless of whether or not you accurately finished the sentence, you're not contributing positively to the conversation. An under rated virtue and what seems to be a lost art, is listening. When you interrupt someone's train of thought, you're subconsciously telling the individual you really aren't listening.

The study of Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP recognizes that as individuals we have certain ways of interpreting information. These are ways in which we are conditioned. In order to make sense of information we are given we tend to generalize, delete and distort it. It's important to understand that these three natural thought processes are all based on our individual life experiences. The way in which each of us interprets anything is completely different for you as it is to me. This is where most communication breakdowns occur.

We believe that everyone thinks the same way. So when we are in a conversation with another person and getting nowhere, we wonder why they just don't get it. It's because the thoughts, feelings or self talk isn't at all similar to the words you're communicating. So what to do? Well, one simple thing you can try that won't require you to go out and buy a book is the simple act of paraphrasing. It's a quick little check to ensure you're on the same page.

Once you practice paraphrasing you will be astounded as to how often you retrace what someone has said just to find that it wasn't at all what you had assumed. Another bonus is that by recapping what someone has said, it shows that you are truly listening. There is nothing worse than someone asking you a question more than once because they didn't stop and listen carefully for the answer. Give it a try and I promise you, you'll be happy with the results. For more tips and inspiration check out these links: