How to Communicate with Pro90d Contributor, Tom Harrison

We're going to talk about this idea of putting our speech to work in ways that benefit everyone, or, we could say, the world. I am going to explain this in the context of my work and Pro90d's work because it fits so well in many ways and is addressed by Michael in his own words. Hopefully I'm able to bring just a little bit of a different perspective and get you to think more deeply about your speech and how important your communication is in the world.

Let's talk about putting your speech to work and make it an acronym: work w-o-r-k. Now there are ways to show respect and kindness. Have you ever thought of our work as a way of showing respect and kindness? I ask myself this every morning and use it as a guiding question for my life. How am I showing up today in terms of respect and kindness in my work?

There are so many ways we can do that, right? I mean, we all have our own ways, but what about when people are not respectful and not kind to us? How are we showing up for ourselves? It's painful—perhaps even more painful—when we are disrespectful and unkind to ourselves. Folks who struggle with speech tend to be really good at this. We're really good at being disrespectful and unkind to ourselves, so that's got to change. Part of putting our speech to work is to remember every time we communicate, in whatever ways we communicate, to be kind to ourselves first and foremost.

When we are respectful to ourselves, we are respectful to others, and yet some of us are able to do it for others but not ourselves. It's tragic. Let's put our words to work; let's let our words be ways of showing respect and kindness. I invite you to bring this question into your life, into your mornings, and into your day as often as possible as a guiding question for your life. It can start with your speech. Think of your speech as your communication, and think of that communication as a voice that we hear but also as your voice that you write in an email. Whatever the different ways we communicate in the words we speak to ourselves, try to catch yourself when you're saying something negative when you're judging yourself.

Let's really ask ourselves: how can I be respectful, and what are my ways of showing respect and kindness? We need to be leaders in our lives, in our environments, in the workplace, and in the family with friends, and the beauty is that there's nothing better than leadership that takes the form of ways of showing respect and kindness.

We need to take a leadership position and stay in that position of respecting kindness. You might be in the right and be seeing red, but you can transform that meanness into meaning in your life. By stepping back and realizing that by being respectful and kind, no matter how the words are coming out of our mouth, whether we are speaking super smoothly or we're stuttering and stammering, if we're having a hard time getting the words out, you know it is not mindful of the moment and of the people around us. Come from a place of ways of respect and kindness that can transform society. If it doesn't, if people aren't picking up on it, then it might be a good indication to find another job that you really believe is representative of the ways of respect and kindness. You can do this with your family as well. It can happen with friends, and it certainly can happen in the environment on social media. This has no place in our lives; let's just get real and get back to work. That work applies anywhere in your life where you are being kind and transforming space, using your speech as a clue. if it's not clear by now mother earth mother nature really really needs us to be more respectful and kind to her and guess what we're all a part of this greater nature so

Let's put our words to work and bring our ways of respect and kindness to the world around us. Our world needs us to take care and keep speaking smoothly with Pro90d.