I was Wrong. Communication is the Only Skill you Really Need

Hey, hey dear readers. I hope you are feeling well. I’m feeling great.

The second post of this blog was titled: Work-life balance is the only skill you really need and was written almost two years ago. In that article, I explained why I thought that work-life balance was the best skill to succeed as professionals and individuals.

Don’t misunderstand me; I do think work-life balance is important. However, wise men change their minds, fools never, and in the last couple of months, I have noticed that there is a skill that breaks the game, looks like cheating, and allows you to grow like no other: I’m talking about communication.

Communication Represents a lot More than I Thought it Would

Since I have always been working remotely, I knew the importance of communication, but after seeing real communicators using the whole power of their speech, I was just speechless. Literally, as you can see in the post about mastering the art of remote work, I saw communication as a tool of organization, to keep the team informed about the progress of the tasks, ask for help, etc. It’s all of these things, but it’s also something greater.

If you don’t have good communication skills, people won’t be able to see the value you have to offer.

Communication looks like a superpower; it lets people feel comfortable with your presence, allows you to convince and make a change on the listeners, and makes you empathize with others, changing your mind too.

Communication Skills can be Learned

One of the main reasons I didn’t give enough importance to communication before is because I thought I wasn’t born with that skill. I thought it was something for extroverts and couldn’t be learned.

Then, YouTube and its weird algorithm recommended a video from Vinh Giang, a YouTuber, communication coach, and magician. He hooked me to his videos immediately, something weird that had never happened to me before. Almost no editing, no flashy effects, stock media, nothing; just a man talking for 30 minutes, and I couldn’t stop listening.

After watching almost all the videos of the last months, I definitely started to discover that this skill can be learned. I started to follow the things he recommended in his videos, read and watched the progress of others who did the same, and I don’t know if it is true, but Vinh calls himself someone timid that has learned this skill. In all cases, I got enough proof to say that this skill can be learned, improved, and mastered; we just have to practice.

Voice is an Instrument

Guitarists play the guitar, pianists play the piano, speakers play the voice. If musicians practice playing their instrument, why don’t we practice how we use our voice and ideas?

Again, I think that this is because people think this cannot be learned. However, it can be learned. I have improved a lot with just 5 minutes of practice during a single month. I cannot imagine where I will be in one year or ten years.

FrankTedesco

FrankTedesco - Streamer on Twitch. Composer for video games. Here you’ll find Omegle piano videos, piano covers, original compositions, and more.

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Another YouTuber I love to watch is Frank Tedesco, a pianist who has been playing for more than a decade. He is awesome. People say he is talented, and he is, but I cannot undervalue all the effort and hours of practice he has put in over these years to reach the skill he possesses.

I don’t have a piano to practice every day, but I have my voice and my ideas, so I will practice using them to become somebody who can change the world like these two people.

The Bottom Line

There’s no shame in admitting you’re wrong, so I admit communicating effectively is the most important skill you can develop. I already started and invite you to start with me too. This way, we can measure our progress and, in one or two years, create a new post about this journey!

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