The Four Minute CommTool

Jim Barrett's radio interview with Dr. Dennis O'Grady on how to deal with depression during the holidays.

There are two new types of communicators in town, and knowing your type and who you’re talking to by type, will speed your travels down the two-way communication highway. The first order of communication business then, is to know and appreciate your own "natural" communicator type. Thus, even when you take an unintended detour, you will be able to enjoy the scenery and not feel frustrated by putting your foot in your mouth.

Can you talk at work? Because I’ve been a communications consultant for so long, maybe I’m nuts about executive coaching and positive communications training in the workplace. BUT I think teamwork is solidified by talking openly about the good, the bad and the ugly without casting stones of blame at esteemed co-workers.

Don’t the head-spinning and logic-numbing excuses flow fast when people fail to perform their agreed-upon tasks or meet important deadlines at work? What today’s workplaces have in common are tons of logical-sounding excuses why managers, executives and team members alike have failed to perform as expected. Are we all getting too carried away with psychological excuses about why we shouldn’t be called on the carpet…and held accountable for the good results we’ve failed to deliver upon? You can bet your psychology license on it!

Believe IT: Although your stress level may be very high, you will be able to cut that amount of personal strain in half, when you use the positive inner talk tools I feature in my book TALK TO ME. I'm not naive. I realize many of you talk a good game of change, but when it comes right down to actually changing, you love to suffer and get yourself all riled up. I've found the following "10 Positive Psychology Tips of Self-Leadership" to be a really huge help IF you use them four minutes a day to remain calm when everyone around you is losing their heads or stressing out.

Management consultants, executive coaches and human resource specialists are all hired to keep employee satisfaction high and poor communication low. One assumption in workplace psychology is that those of us who are in positive partnerships are better able to shrug off rejections and stressful assignments while keeping our attitudes positive, and all of that combines to improve overall work performance.

My ears get reamed every day and my brain screams when I hear some of these talk fillers from pedigreed people: "Um... y'know... I kinda'... dunno... don't you agree... do ya' know what I mean?" Aarrh! Give my ears a break from all the word pollution and rigmarole!!

Good grief, Charlie Brown, is there such a thing... grief that is good for the heart and soul? Loss, saying goodbye and asking why are very touchy emotional subjects for most of us. But there are good parts to grief, or as I like to say: "Out of the ashes of grief comes new growth!"

Willie Nelson plays "the angel's advocate" because he shows us all that although it's far easier to be negative... it’s by far more productive to be a positive person. I don't care if you love or loathe country music... Willie Nelson is a positive thinker, a positive talker, a positive doer and an all-around positive guy who has a bunch of friends from all over the world. "W" knows that ya' can’t afford no negative thoughts.

There's a hilarious hard-working comedian named Ron White who does a laughable routine in perfect Texan drawl about why "You Can't Fix Stupid!" You can fix "stupid" communication darned fast... IF and when you use new communication tools.