Why Mindful Communication is Vital to Success

Victoria Howes
Thrive Global
Published in
4 min readJan 8, 2018

Poor communication is the root of all hardship, whether that be in your professional or personal life. It’s no coincidence that good communicators are highly successful. Those who have mastered the art of communication know how to truly connect with the people around them. Naturally, this leads to success inside and outside of the office.

Whether you’re looking to excel in your career or improve your personal relationships, mindful communication can do a lot to improve your life.

To put it simply, this means making a commitment to positively communicating with those around you by:

  • Listen without distraction.
  • Leave your emotions out of the conversation.
  • Practice nonjudgmental and remember that there is no wrong or right, merely different perspectives.
  • Validate who you’re talking to and show you understand their perspective or opinion.

In addition to granting confidence in your relationships, following these golden rules of communication can will shape you into a person that can be trusted to make unbiased decisions and mediations.

4 Invaluable Lessons You Learn from Practicing Mindful Communication

Need a nudge in the right direction? Here are 4 reasons to practice mindful communication in your daily life.

1.You learn to actually listen.

Good listening is more than simply hearing what someone has to say before snapping your reply. Mindful listening means looking the person you’re talking to in the eyes, observing their body language, and patiently waiting until they’re finished speaking to respond.

Knowing how to listen well allows the people you’re talking to feel comfortable around you, making them more receptive to what you have to say.

People are more productive when they feel valued. Issues are resolved quicker because instead of a series of miscommunication and bargaining, people are able to get to the root issue and solve it objectively.

In our personal lives, this helps the people we love know that they are treasured. At work, this lets the people around us know that they can share their ideas and come to you for an honest conversation or opinion.

2. You learn to create a non-judgemental environment for you friends, family, and coworkers.

For managers and business owners, mindful communication can be the difference between employees who are afraid to speak to you and employees that feel comfortable approaching you about challenges they’re experiencing at work. That doesn’t mean that you need to ignore any rules you may have in place, but rather that you need to make sure that your employees feel included in the growth and decision making of the company.

Encourage the same in their communication with one another. Consider it a company policy of respect.

“There’s nothing more important than a team that feels comfortable communicating with one another,” says Nate Robertson of squareship.“You hired every member of your team because you believed they have talent. If your talent isn’t working together, you’re missing out.”

At an employee level, mindful communication can increase your productivity and help you feel more comfortable taking on responsibilities at work. Especially when you work in a high energy environment like a internet marketing in los angeles, learning to use these communication practices can make you a better problem solver and strategist.

3. You learn to truly see problems objectively.

Do you let your personal opinions cloud your judgement? To a certain degree, everyone does. However, if we want to have truly positive and productive conversations that foster growth — we need to learn to look at problems objectively. Before you respond to what someone is arguing or simply stating, think about it from their perspective before you reply.

The more and more we take the time to consider all perspective, the more even-tempered we become about problem solving on a large scale. Not only does this make you a go-to problem solver, it allows you to truly find a solution that will benefit all parties involved.

4. You learn to take control of your life.

I’m not suggesting that simply adding these practices to you daily routine that every problem you encounter will be solved. However, I do truly believe that by adding these practices to your life you can find clarity in your relationships. For most of those, managing our relationships both personally and professionally is the biggest (and most recurring) challenge we face.

With proper communication, you’re less likely to let small communication problems boil in to large ones. When the inevitable argument does arise, you can take these practices with you and stay in control of your emotions while discussing issues with a partner or coworker.

Conclusion

Mindful communication is more than a way to get where you want to go in your career. It’s a way to truly connect, understand, and learn from the people around us. Not only will you be able to strengthen relationships in every area of your life, you’ll feel confident in your choices both personally and professionally.

The moral of the story? Never doubt the value of good communication.

What do you do to practice mindfulness in your communication with others? How has it helped you develop personally and professionally? Share your story in the comments.

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Victoria Howes
Thrive Global

Entrepreneur, Traveller, and Consultant. Follow my adventures on victoriahowes.com