We waste so much time in business and in life because we aren’t straight with each other. We don’t say what we mean or ask for what we need for fear of being judged, ridiculed or even fired. It takes courage to speak from your heart and to speak your truth.

My experiences playing in the corporate world have shown me that we tend to be congenial allowing there to be a pretence of being seen to get along with others like colleagues (meaning not only at work but also family etc), not be straight in our communication and hedge around anything that could eventuate in conflict. We sell ourselves short and in many instances compromise our values to avoid conflict.

Where in respecting each other’s commitment to the common purpose and higher good of all, speaking straight and from our heart would be far more beneficial and effective.

The reality seems to be far from that, dealing with office and family politics a lot of people don’t want to hear the truth, because in reality we all have our own interpretation of the truth. Does that mean we should be so direct that it can damage relationships. I don’t think so, I find that when we speak from our heart and not our heads, we speak our truth and the message is heard. It can still take people including yourself outside of your comfort zone but the benefits are worth it.

When you begin communicating straight from your heart, you’ll start to have greater respect for yourself and others as well as to create stronger relationships and have more effective communications. You’ll also let go of a whole lot of wasted energy that that is consumed by plotting and analysing what you’re going to say and what ‘so and so really meant’.

So, choose to stop wasting time and start getting real with yourself and the people in your life, and see how much more satisfying that can be.