1JOURNAL Introduction This will be a weekly journal and through this I will be documenting and reflecting on my engagement with people and how I have applied interpersonal communication strategies when it comes to communicating with the people in my life. Each week of my term will be recorded in this. This will allow me to gain an insight into my day to day communication styles and the reasons why I communicate with people. This is self exploratory exercise and it will enable me to understand people's reactions to the way I communicate and make sure that positive reactions are the only kind of reactions I get while communicating. Interpersonal communication strategies are meant to enable better communication in between individuals and therefore things like empathy, cultural consideration, listening skills and assertiveness are important (Bodie, 2011). Today channel I will also reflect on the kind of languages I come across and if my listening skills are proper as I have realized that people appreciate good listeners. Communication structures tend to be varied for all kinds of people and even the methods I follow while communicating with different kinds of people are different. It is only natural because my relation to these varied people will always be different and it is upon how close I am and the kind of relationship we share (Spencer-Oatey, 2004). Communication styles are mostly based on what the other person deems appropriate and the personal boundaries we have set up within ourselves. Somebody who is an extrovert I believe that communication is the key to successful social and personal life. It is also the key to a successful business venture and therefore I pay attention to it, hoping that my future communication skills get better.
2JOURNAL Journal Entry In the first week I paid attention to my communication strategies with people my age. I kept a close I on how I communicate with my friends and classmates. I have also ensured that I pay close attention to how I talk to junior associates and strangers who are my age. I have realized that talking to people my age is an easier exercise than talking to people who are constitutively elder to me because I need to and sure that they do not feel that I am disrespecting them and also because I am too scared of making a communication mistake in front of them. I am mostly relaxed while talking to people my age and I easily build up report with them. Usually discuss music or sports and this enables me to familiarize myself to the other. I have realized that people my age are not very intent on listening and often we interrupt each other while talking about something very interesting and something we both share mutually (Beebe, Susan & Mark, 2000). Communication and language in this kind of company is usually very informal and colloquial in nature and often colloquial slangs are used as terms of endearment or just for fun. Our nonverbal structures of communication involve rigorous hand movements and often tap on each otherโs backs as a form of familiarity. However this can be problematic in case of five as people tend to push each other and break into a struggle. Racism and cultural difference issues are rarely a problem because we are very open and we are willing to make friends with people from different cultures as they are very interesting and different from us (Goodykunst, Ting-Toomey & Chua, 1988). We often remain silent while we are on our phones but in each other's company and that for us is a comfort zone that we achieve after a long time of familiarity. Silence due to anger on the other hand is never positively understood and this leads to fights. I hope that I can work on my listening skills and stop interrupting other people while talking.
3JOURNAL Conclusion Communicationformewillalwaysbeakeytoachievingawidercircleof acquaintances. Effectively talking and communicating with people makes me shed my inhibitions and burden and helps me cope with stress and pressure. I am yet to develop on a lot of strategies of communication so that it is much more effective and positive in nature and it does not lead to a lot of miscommunication and misinterpretation in the future. With much more effective and better strategies I hope I will be able to you not only gather and informal circle of acquaintances but also a formal circle of acquaintances who will be important for my formal life as well.
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4JOURNAL References Gudykunst, W. B., Ting-Toomey, S., & Chua, E. (1988).Culture and interpersonal communication. Sage Publications, Inc. Beebe,StevenA.,SusanJ.Beebe,andMarkV.Redmond.Interpersonalcommunication. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall Canada, 2000. Bodie, G.D., 2011. The understudied nature of listening in interpersonal communication: Introduction to a special issue.The Intl. Journal of Listening,25(1-2), pp.1-9. Spencer-Oatey, H. ed., 2004.Culturally speaking: Managing rapport through talk across cultures. A&C Black