How to improve communication skills easily in your daily routine

Well, who doesn’t want to improve their communication skills? But we are either too busy with our college assignments, chatting with our friends on Whatsapp, or binge-watching Netflix, that we have no time left for improving communication skills.

What if I told you that improving communication skills can be easily incorporated in your normal daily routine? Below are 4 easy ways by which you can do this -

1. Initiate a conversation with people you don’t know at all:

Always try to initiate a conversation with people outside your immediate social circle. For instance, if there is a seminar or guest lecture and you have been seated around students from diverse disciplines it is an ideal opportunity to initiate a conversation.

Interacting with students from different disciplines helps you learn how to break the ice, appreciate diverse viewpoints and also become better in English.

Initiate a conversation!

2. Read the subtitles of your favourite TV Shows:

So many of us are hooked to watching English TV shows/movies/Youtube but we may have never looked at it as a medium to improve our communication skills. So next time try this for once – Enable the subtitles and try to read along with listening to the audio of the show. This will help you understand how the speakers make use of voice modulation, tailor their pace of speaking and when do they take pauses while speaking. It is these subtle communication nuances that make us so hooked to the TV show. You too can become a great speaker if you pay attention to these communication nuances while speaking.

Turn on the subtitles!

3. Reading things you enjoy reading:

My school teacher once told me just read the headlines of the newspaper. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I started following her advice and started spending 5 minutes a day reading the headlines. After two weeks, I could connect the headlines I read with what I had read on previous days. I started reading the first paragraph of the newspaper. Thus my reading time increased to 10 minutes. After four weeks I had started reading for 20 minutes a day. This kept increasing and now I read the newspapers daily for 45 minutes. The moral of the story – starting small is enough to get into the habit of reading. The mind is curious enough to make you read more.

Reading has led to a great improvement in my overall communication skills – Reading, Speaking and Writing. One thing has remained constant throughout these years - I still begin reading from the last pages of the newspaper which is the Sports section :D

You too can choose your starting point of reading based on what interests you.

Read what you like!

5. Join Public Speaking Clubs and Competitions:

Practicing speaking is a sure shot way to improve your speaking skills. College provides us opportunities to join public speaking clubs, for example, toast masters or drama club. One can also participate in debate competitions to understand how speakers convince the audience to their point of view. Many students want to overcome stage fright and participating in these competitions is a great way to do that. An added advantage is that when you take part in these competitions and become part of societies you will make many new friends.

Learn how to convince people to your point of view!

WiseTip!

“Improving communication skills is not a sprint but a marathon”

If you have a job interview tomorrow and you want to improve your communication skills, these techniques are not going to help. So, all you need to do is be conscious every day and follow the mentioned techniques.

All the best!

Below is a video, where I have shared tips to improve your speaking, writing, and overall communication skills.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me personally on Instagram at @wiseup_communications. I will be happy to answer your queries :)

Wish you all the best!