Practice Makes Permanent

As a society we are used to the cliche "Practice Makes Perfect". However a very wise man recently told me this is not the case.

Actually, PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT.

Take a child learning to play an instrument in her school band. She may practice her flute daily working on her fingering chart, practicing her scales, and focusing on the new music given to her by her teacher. However even if she practices every day, this does not mean she will be a better flutist. If she is not taught/shown the proper way of performing a task (playing an instrument), then the practice is only going to make the incorrect mannerism a habit, and a bad one at that.

This is also true when working on our communication skills both at home and at the office. If we are not taught effective ways to communicate with others, and we will continue to repeat the same problems, and we will not improve our communicating style, we will only reinforce bad habits of poor communication.

Let's say you want to improve your communication skills by putting more time and effort into your responses. However, how many times, for example, do you find yourself thinking about your response even while the person is still asking their question? Many times the most important information is missed because we have tuned out after the first 5 seconds! If this practice continues, this will surely become a habit hard to break!

So what can you do? In most industries, there is opportunity for hours of training to help employees perform better in their jobs. Unfortunately, communication skills classes are not offered as much as they should be!

You may have to take it upon yourself to get communications training on your own. Read self-improvement books, attend workshops, and participate in work groups all focused on communication skill development. Toastmasters, for example, can help you improve your speaking and listening skills - and you actually have peers to help evaluate you and offer advice for improvement.

Find opportunities to first learn the correct way to communicate and then begin practicing those new skills. Then practice will make perfect!