Strengths and Challenges in Communicating

Communication is an important part of everyday life. Without interaction with others, it is possible to go insane as socializing is a vital need for many people. However, while communication is important, how one goes about communicating with others is also vital. This is where knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses in communication can come into play.

I feel that my strongest point in communicating only comes when I am talking about something that I am confident in. As my personality type is of a primary C and a secondary D, I am very strong when it comes to conversations that involve conveying relevant information. On the other hand, as I am a low I, I tend to get stuck when conversations turn to small talk, as those kind of conversations often involve random topics that I am not comfortable with. After all, since no relevant information is being conveyed, I can’t help but feel that the conversation is mostly pointless, and I will feel awkward to participate in the conversation. 

The 2 objectives that I would like to achieve by the end of this course are as follows. Firstly, I would like to learn how to make small talk. As mentioned, I find it very difficult to communicate with people who do not share common ground with me. Mastering the art of small talk would be very helpful in forging relationships in the future. Secondly, I would like to learn how to wear a persona more often when talking to others. As I am lazy to think about how I should speak to different people, I normally just default myself to my usual way of talking no matter who I am speaking to, be it a teacher, friend or stranger. Having more personas will help me convey the right amount of formality I should be giving towards a conversation partner.

At the moment, given that my communication skills are rather lacking when it comes to talking with strangers, I hope that I can acquire the skills needed to converse with strangers more effectively by the end of the semester.

Commented:
Arman
Weilun
Izaac