Saying It Differently

Repeating yourself isn’t always helpful.

It’s not that they didn’t listen, it’s that they didn’t hear you … really hear you.

The best thing you can do is to say what you said differently.

To empathize. To switch from what you want them to hear to how they’ll actually understand you. To putting their shoes on for a moment.

And if roles reversed, the best phrase you can speak is “Can you say that in a different way?”

Hearing and understanding are two different actions, and repeating might help with one, but not so much the other.

Stay Positive & Said Differently, Ask More Questions

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Garth Beyer is a Certified Cicerone®, Product Marketer, owner of Garth's Brew Bar and a Madison-based freelance writer.