Fun Ways that Can Help Improve Your Communication Skills
Unfortunately, none of these is practicing or improving our communication skills though. We just tend to take it for granted that we already have them when really, if we looked at becoming more effective communicators, our lives could improve greatly.
Thankfully, improving your communication skills doesn’t have to be dull or boring. Here are nine fun ways that can help you on the road to becoming a more effective communicator.
Play sports
Taking part in team sports provides a great opportunity to improve communication skills. Whether it’s the pitcher in a game of baseball communicating with his catcher or somebody calling the play in a game of football, the most successful teams are often those with the most successful communicators. The easiest sports to get involved in at a basic level are basketball and soccer. Neither requires any expense – just a ball and some shoes – the rules are relatively straightforward, and as long as you can bounce or kick a ball, you’ll find a level where you can play too.
The name game
This classic game usually played during the holiday season with families and friends is also a really good way to improve your communication skills, in this instance namely getting helpful information quickly out of someone. Each participant writes the name of a famous person on a post-it note, attaching it to the head of their partner, who then has to guess who they are by asking a series of questions. “Am I male?” “Am I female?” “Am I the 44th President of the United States?” You get the picture.
Take on the challenge of an escape room
You’re locked in a room or building for a certain amount of time, and your only means of escaping is by solving a set of mysteries or clues. Welcome to the concept of the Escape Room! Essentially, you aren’t getting out of there without demonstrating impressive communication and teamwork, which makes the tasks offered by venues like the Cincinnati Escape Room a fun way to improve those particular skills.
Become an amateur actor
You don’t have to be a Leonardo DiCaprio or a Matthew McConaughey to start acting. There are amateur theatres groups all over the country that are always looking for new members. By taking part in amateur theatre, you’ll be learning how to communicate not as yourself, but as a character you’ve been chosen to portray. You’ll learn about elocution and how to project your voice clearly which will be hugely beneficial in helping improve your communication skills in everyday life. Amateur acting can also help people overcome nervous and build a sense of confidence, two more underrated states that can have a bearing on effective communication.
Learn a foreign language
What better way to become a better communicator than being able to communicate in two languages? Becoming bi-lingual means that we often think more about the words we are using in our mother tongue, while it also has positive benefits in the areas of the brain used for both communication and memory.
Take up yoga
Yoga? Bet you didn’t expect to see that on a list of ways to help improve communication skills. However, yoga can be hugely beneficial to communication! It slows your mind and body down enough so you can hear the inner beatings of your heart, meaning it can be beneficial to our listening skills. After all, being able to listen is a key component of being a good communicator. It can also help your verbal communication skills as well, as when the mind is calm our speech becomes more articulate. Give it a try!
Join a book club
More than 5 million Americans are reckoned to be members of book clubs, and they provide a great way to help improve communication skills. Every few weeks, these clubs gather in a members house or a coffee shop to discuss the finer points of books ranging from those in the top 10 of the New York Times Best Sellers list to a self-published novel on available as an eBook. Putting across your thoughts and feelings on the plot or central characters of your chosen book at book club is a sure fire way to help improve your communication skills. It will also help you develop the ability to take another person’s words from a page and turn them into your own language.
Set up a blog
It isn’t just our verbal communication that we can improve. What about written? If you’ve got something to say about a subject, why not set up a blog and share your opinions with the world? Whether it be about politics, global affairs, money or your favorite sports team, a blog is a great way to develop writing skills. The ability to clearly and concisely get across your point via the written word in a blog transfer into all kinds of ways when it comes to communicating via print in your working life.
Post frequently on social media
If you don’t think you’d have to time to sit down and commit your thoughts to a blog, then you can take advantage of social media to improve your communication skills. Plenty of us have Facebook or Twitter accounts, but how many of us actually post on a regular basis? You may think that nobody on your friends or followers list is interested in what you have to say, but if you make interesting and concise points, then they will be. Twitter, in particular, can be extremely beneficial when it comes to helping us with our communication skills – its character limit means that we have to get our point across quickly and concisely, something that transfers into everyday life.