Puzzle Krypt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jen was frustrated with me. We were talking about something that was on going for two months. I was giving her bits and pieces. She asked a question. I’d go back into something I told her about 4 weeks before and talk about that. She asked another question. I fast forward to another conversation we had a week after the conversation that I went back into for the previous question she asked. Then I came back to the present. Confusing!
Pieces of the puzzle were all over the place. I knew where all the pieces went. And how they fit together. Jen didn’t.
People are busy. They have other things to do than remember everything you’ve ever told them. They don’t remember where you left off when you were talking to them 2 Tuesdays ago.
It’s frustrating having to do the work for someone else. We make others do that work for us all the time. We jump right into our last conversation where we left off. We expect them to get the picture and not miss a beat. We do this with our wives, our friends, our bosses. It doesn’t move us forward.
Move your conversations forward. Create context. Tell – briefly – where you left off last time. Tell – briefly – where you’re going now.
Put the pieces of the puzzle together. It will make it a lot easier for them to catch up and follow … which will make the conversation easier for you.
