Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better – Maya Angelou
Great communication is created through a lifetime of learning. Every time you learn something new it translates to how you express yourself and connect with others. Learning a new skill can help you in practical and unexpected ways. Learning a new way to relate to others can help you be more effective in interpersonal relationships. Each time you broaden your mind, you enhance your communication skills, so keep on learning!
There are some common characteristics of life-long learners that make them better communicators. Take a look-
- Life-long learners stay curious
- Life-long learners stay open-minded
- Life-long learners increase their emotional quotient
Curiosity creates a world of opportunity- Being curious about everything makes anything possible. People who seek new experiences, more knowledge, and see an opportunity to learn wherever they go have an edge. Learning new things enhances your knowledge base and expands your mind. As you learn, you grow as an individual socially, emotionally, and intellectually. This adds up to a greater ability to communicate and build great relationships.
Being open-minded creates empathy- One of the best communication tools available to us is empathy. The ability to see something from someone else’s perspective humbles us and makes us more effective communicators. Life-long learning about other cultures, social issues, emotional well-being, and similar topics enhances our empathy and makes us more effective listeners. The more open-minded we are to the experiences other people are having the more helpful and humble we can be in our relationships with them.
Building your EQ creates better communication- Our EQ, or emotional quotient, is a measurement of a wide range of personal and social skills. While IQ measures intelligence, EQ measures the health of our emotions. The healthier we are, the better able we are to build relationships and communicate. The more emphasis on increasing our self-awareness and our social skills throughout life, the better we communicate over time.
Learning new things serves a lot of purposes. First, it’s fun! Additionally, being a life-long learner builds personal and social skills that include better communication skills. It may not have occurred to you that learning about something new could enhance you in so many ways. That’s why it’s so important to keep your mind open and stay curious so you are always learning and growing throughout life.
