Learn to Talk
You may have heard the phrase, “You can tell how much a person knows by the way they talk.”
You should be concerned about that. How well do you talk? How broad is your vocabulary? Education exposes you to many more words. The more words you know, the more you can understand others.
Ability to communicate is important to your future earnings, your income potential.
Your job interviews will go much better if you understand the questions and your response reflects your understanding of the questions.
Make it a goal to learn to talk better every day!
Speaking the Language
You may be like most people who try to avoid any public speaking, such as in meetings or as a host for an event. I certainly was like that when an employer encouraged me to become less introverted by joining Toastmasters International, a club to grow your confidence in public speaking.
I had a college degree, but I was not well read. Therefore, my command of words was somewhat limited. Public speaking will reveal that to a degree. Learning new words must be an important goal for your future income potential.
My time with Toastmasters was a growth experience. Our meetings included attorneys, business owners, and a recently retired professional baseball player. I only attended meetings over one year, but I gave eight speeches, which means that I was actively trying to learn! But early in my presentations, I became known as the “Wizard of Ahs”. I used that moniker as an incentive to improve.
At the end of that year, I was given the accolade of being the “most improved speaker”. I enjoyed that title much better!
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the total set of words known and used by a person. How many words are in your set?
Some studies show that the average English-speaking person has about 20,000 words in their vocabulary. Note that some know many more to offset those who know much less. I hope you are at least average.
There are many ways to increase your vocabulary and your ability to use more words. Reading a variety of books, including fiction and nonfiction, is still the best tool for building a broader vocabulary. And technology trends offer online games to play to help that progress.
The Art of Plain Talk
The Art of Plain Talk, by Adolf Flesch, was an early book, circa 1946, written as a guide on how to write and speak clearly, avoiding confusing jargon. Many books have been written since then that have utilized that premise.
And that premise is one you should take to heart. Using clear expressions in your texts and emails will benefit you greatly over time.
Most people communicate at a fifth-grade level. So, keep it simple and clearly understood. Conversations and instructions are more productive if your words are clear enough that they do not raise questions of clarity. Think before using words that can carry other meaning depending on how they are used.
Do You Understand?
Don’t underestimate your capacity to learn. Most of us have a lot of frontiers of learning that we know very little about, which makes us hesitate to try to learn more.
When I retired from a career in accounting, I sought ways to do more with my interest in writing. As part of that quest, I studied copywriting and blogging. I settled on blogging, which required setting up a website.
That was a learning frontier for me! I still have a lot more to learn but I have started the process and now know I can learn new skills!
Comfort with Crowds
Whether you have civic intentions or just social activities, your comfort with others will affect your enjoyment and accomplishments. You need others. And communication will be a key factor in your success in working with others.
Any effort you make to build a better vocabulary and include more time for reading will show in your relationships and will help you build a better mindset for money!
You need income. Income potential builds with a better vocabulary and your ability to use plain talk. Plus, you will learn more about income options, if you choose to read about that.
Spending and investing are concepts that relate to finding value. And learning how to shop better will provide more savings to invest, which will require more learning to do it well. You are capable of learning more!
Join a Club or Take a Class
Classes or clubs come in many forms these days. But in-person meetings will have the best results for your personal growth. And part of the reward is seeing personal growth in others.
Whether the class is public speaking, welding, or micro-economics, the topic can be foreign at first but that can lead to helpful talk among your classmates for mutual learning experiences. Mental growth for all!
Sometimes growth can be demanding with homework, but it will be faster than trying to study on your own.
Join a club or take a class to help boost your potential!
A Successful Wizard
Social media influencers are in the press a lot these days. However, before you try to become one, I would advise you to review your vocabulary and your level of comfort with public speaking!
There are many ways to find success. Just learning to live debt-free has become one of them. And I hope you will make that one of your goals.
Read about successful people and how they achieved success. You will add a lot of new words to your vocabulary. And, hopefully, you will find new ways to use them!
Never assume you know all you need to know. When you expand your frontiers of knowledge, you will expand your opportunities.
When others ask about your new levels of success, you can say you learned from the “Wizard of Ahs”!