Blog Week in Review

I am a huge fan of blogging. Not only do I enjoy the discipline of writing, I also enjoy reading other people's thoughts and ideas. You can check some of the blogs I read at my website here. There's a scrolling ticker in the right hand column that allows you to click on them. Anyhow, the following are items that piqued my interest this week from the blogs I read.

Awesome video clip from Brian McLaren on Worship (about 3 min)

If you can't see the video, click here


Quote by Jordon Green...OUCH!
"These days, it seems that the true ways for dealing with a broken world can be found more on HBO than on TBN."

Quote from Mark Batterson
"It's no secret that the church has some perception issues. Some of the characterizations of the church are unfair and uninformed. But the reality is this: the church is more known for what we're against than what we're for. And that needs to change. The good news is that pockets of Christians are beginning to take on their rightful role as culture-shapers. The cultural trade winds are shifting."


Quote from Steve Jobs (Apple Inc)
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. don't be trapped by dogma - which is living the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

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Effective Communication Part 2

Simple...that is the word that best describes the starting point of good communication. Whether you are communicating to your children, your peers at work, or standing in front of many people to give a speech about something you believe in, simplicity is the key to effectively getting your message across.

Humans have a tendency in life to move from the simple to the complex, and all too often we allow this very fact to effect the way we communicate our ideas. So, the question that remains is how to we keep it simple?

In the book "Made to Stick," they give a formula for keeping communication simple...simple = core + compact. A good example of this is what we see when we read the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is a book about big ideas presented in a simple way. Think about it, every proverb has a core idea (that is often huge) presented in a very compact way.

One of the things I say over and over to my kids is, "be a leader and make good choices." It's a big idea presented in a simple way and it has served my wife and I in teaching them the importance of Godly leadership.

They will often come home with a story of something that happened at school, and more times than not, I have been able to say..."That's why it is so important to be a leader and make good choices." This provides the avenue to take the conversation deeper by teaching them, at a greater level, the importance of this core proverb.

Good communication always starts and ends with simplicity...so Keep It Simple!

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Effective Communication Part 1

I read a story about Mark Twain that brought a smile to my face. He had a really bad habit of using profanity when he spoke. In his rawness, it just flowed from him.

His wife was a polar opposite. As raw as Twain was, she was as proper as proper could be. Her husbands uncouth manner and speech was something that grated on her nerves and offended her in a deep way.

She tried many ways to break him of this bad habit, but to no avail. Finally, out of a desperate measure she tried the old reverse psychology and thought that if he hears what he sounds like he'll be embarrassed enough to stop. And so one day when he returned home from a day out, she met him at the door with enough profanities to stop a train in it's tracks. Twain calmly listened and when she was done retorted..."my dear you have the words, but not the music."

I'm in no way promoting the use of vulgar language or unhealthy speech, but I think Mark Twain has a real point for us to learn when it comes to good communication.

Effective Communication, whether it be as a parent, with a client, or standing up to give a presentation, is much more than a string of words that we put together, but rather it is a collection of notes that when arranged right, can really be effective in not only getting your point across, but in challenging the status quo of the world in which we live.

Now, I'm by no means an expert on speech, but I do try to give myself to continual growth in this field. So over the next few posts, I'm going to write about some things that I have found to be helpful when it comes to being a better communicator. Feel free to leave a comment at any time to either challenge or confirm what I am saying.

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