Become assertive by making changes in these three areas:
Appearance
Body Language
Voice (tone, speed, volume and pitch)
How you look, how you speak and how you conduct yourself are indications of an assertive person.
Such a person is comfortable with what s/he is, and is clear about what s/he does.
Ask questions to improve your communication skills.
Questions have great power and can be used to guide a conversation anywhere you like.
Open questions, closed questions and probing questions are three types of questions.
Open questions ask who, what, where, when, why and how. They encourage explanations: "Why did you do that?"
Closed questions can only be answered with a "yes" or "no", or a short answer. For e.g. "Do you like football?"
Probing questions seek more information. "Can you tell me how it happened?"
Improve your body language by becoming aware of your current body language and making these changes in it:
Posture - shoulder back and back straight.
Movements - avoid quick or slow movements.
Facial expressions - keep a smiling face.
Personal space - don't stand too near or too far from the person you're talking to.
Eye movement - look directly at the person, avoid quick eye movement and wandering eyes.
Prioritise goals to manage tasks at home and work better.
List out all goals and categorise them on the basis of their urgency, importance and duration (short-term or long-term).
In each category, pick the first two goals and devote your time and efforts to complete them.
Give yourself a deadline for each goal and measure results regularly.
Develop Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to gain control over your emotions and understanding others'.
Observe your strengths, weaknesses, actions and thoughts impartially to gain self-awareness.
Know that negative thoughts and self-criticism are reactions not in your control.
Therefore, do not let them affect your judgment and actions.
Persuade and influence others by using stories.
People love stories, especially if they are told in an effective way.
You can use stories of real people with extraordinary lives to make your point.
Make sure that you stick to facts and present the story with the goal to influence your audience.
To resolve conflicts efficiently, follow this model:
Research - decide if the issue is serious enough, clarify the problem, and determine its facts and frequency.
Presentation - create a safe zone, describe the behaviour clearly, weigh resolution options.
Take Action - help parties to choose a mutually beneficial solution, create the action plan together and follow up.
Organise materials and tasks for improved personal productivity.
These are the two ways you can use to organise:
Ask these three questions before throwing things -
When was the last time I used it?
Would I need it in the near future?
How will I organise it if I keep it?
Make three boxes of Keep, Donate and Trash.
After every six months or so, sort the Keep box and put the unnecessary things into the Donate and the Trash boxes.
When in a difficult situation, use these three methods to make a decision:
Alter - evaluate if you can Alter the difficult situation.
Avoid - if you cannot Alter it, can you Avoid it?
Accept - if neither Alter nor Avoid is possible, consider Accepting it.
Seek support if you cannot help yourself to Alter or Avoid.
Balance work and life.
As both are important for a healthy life, consider using productivity enhancement tools such as
delegation, goal-setting, and prioritisation to do more in less time.
Devote sufficient time to yourself, your family and friends for mental and physical wellness.
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