multi-channel communication

I'm a terrible storyteller.

I am a big communicator, but sometimes I forget to put in context in conversation. I don't know why it's such a problem, but I often just start up a conversation as if I were already halfway into it, make oblique references, bounce around topics from line to line, have no clear antecedent to half my pronouns, get distracted in the middle of thoughts, etc. (This is true across all channels as anyone who has ever conversed with me multi-channel can attest.)

Communication was always something I thought I was good at. It was literally the only skill I thought I entered b-school with: I'd given a lot of presentations and participated in a lot of meetings, management, etc. Hell, I love to talk and share!

Of course, it turned out to be my worst grade first semester. I learned that I am in fact a shit communicator, in part for the reasons mentioned above. I bring grit and I bring enthusiasm, but I also bring lack of structure, multi-headed tangents, and hell, you know, sentences that start in the middle. [I also bring extra words, unclear or unparallel sentence structure, etc., but at least those things I already knew.]

In addition, I realized how roundabout many of my communications are. I am not always direct about saying what I want, what I think, or exactly how I feel. This is something I especially tried to improve upon this year. There is of course a time and a place for ambiguity, but so much time is saved (and anxiety or confusion avoided) when you say exactly what you mean and ask for exactly what you want. Plus, you learn so much more.