Assertiveness Techniques

So as you can see we keep talking about assertiveness, but this time about techniques.

I guess it is a really important issue because if we want to success and get to be a better person, we should constantly use this techniques, practicing a lot, in order to end up using them naturally.

If we use this techniques, which we can find all over the Internet (nowadays everything you want to know about is there), we will be closer to acting in a way which respects the needs, wants, rights and opinions of both the person you are talking with and you.

I'd like to share with you a video which explains one of these techniques. It sorts of explains how to say no in an assertive way, by using two techniques: fogging (which is agreeing with some of the fact, but retaining the right to choose your behavior and to say no) and the broken record (which simply consists on repeating and insisting in what you want or feel).

I believe it is quite good because it first explains, then makes examples and finally gives feedback about those examples. 

I hope you find it interesting! Thanks for reading.

Oral Presentations (I)

Well, today we have discussed about something I believe is the most valuable part of the subject: oral presentations. I believe in the importance of this issue because, actually, I'm not quite good at it and I realize a good oral presentation of any project can lead to many doors being opened.

My biggest problem when doing an oral presentation is re-explaining things. What I mean with this is that I usually try to explain myself as best as possible (I'm too perfectionist), but because of this I try to find the best words to explain it and I use to get them mixed up, and I think I end up confusing people instead of leaving the ideas clear. So what I must do is just let my words flow (which is quite difficult for me; but everything is possible through practice) and not re-explain things, because probably if I say something wrong, people won't take notice about it, but if I go back and explain it again, they will surely realize that what I said was wrong, and that doesn't give a good impression. 

In my opinion, the trick when you want to do a good oral presentation is just to prepare it and practice it a lot, and when I say "a lot", I mean A LOT! No good presentation is totally improvised, and if it is, the person who does it is actually a genius. 

Here I leave you a video which I think is very interesting about how to do great presentations:

That's all for today. Thanks for reading my blog.

Creativity moves the world!

On Thursday we saw a really interesting video about a conference which talked about education nowadays and how it kills creativity. It criticized the way schools are teaching our kids because instead of promoting their skills and what they like, letting them be creative (which in the end is what really matters), children keep being taught what the industry needs, so mathematics and all sorts of science are considered at the top while arts are at the bottom of everything.

By the way, it shouldn’t be like this. It’s true that science and maths are important, but they are not the only thing in the world. We keep thinking that arts and humanities don’t have a future, that if you study these sort of things you won’t have a job, and it’s totally false. What happens nowadays, I mean, the reason why there are so many people who don’t have a job is just because everybody tends to study those things which are said to have a good future, and if you like them, great! But if you don’t, the truth is that you won’t have a job, just because you won’t have that inside-force which makes you make progress and succeed.

What I am totally convinced of, is that if you really like something, and although it isn’t thought to have a good future, you will surely succeed. And this happens because, if you like something, you will put it “on the top of your list” and you will always try to do your best on it in order to improve; and probably you will even get to be the best on it. And this is what actually matters: that you are good at something and that you are happy doing it. 

Besides this, I’d also like to focus on how Ken Robinson (the man on the conference) communicates his idea of education and creativity, because I’d say it’s a great example of communication skills, because he knows how say what he wants to tell, but he also knows how to drag your attention during the whole conference, which is very important too.

I certainly recommend all of you to watch the conference because it will make you realize the importance of creativity on our way to a better world.

Here is the link to the video of the conference: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
It has subtitles in many languages and you can download it if you wish.