Overcommunicate

We all know the value of communication. It’s our way of sharing our internal world, whether that be our thoughts, feelings, or desires, so that others can understand what we’re experiencing. Communication is at the heart of every form of collaboration because it helps people get on the same page, no matter if the collaboration is personal, professional, romantic, or creative.

There’s one fatal flaw inherent to communication though. It is extremely inefficient. There are no amount of words you can say that completely represents an internal experience, and for that reason I don’t think you can communicate enough. In fact, I recommend that you overcommunicate when possible.

You’d think that overcommunicating would be too much and beyond what’s required, I mean that’s what “over” means. But that’s also the point because you don’t want to limit your communication. You don’t know how much of your communication is being received, or how well it’s being received, and you need to be sure you’re sharing your message in its entirety. Overcommunicating helps you voice the things that you believe to be assumed and verify that there is a mutual understanding.

And what’s the tradeoff? Maybe you’re a little long-winded and you ramble a little too long. Worst case scenario is someone tells you to stop talking. That’s not so bad to ensure you’re getting your message across.

If communication is at the root of collaboration, and communication is already naturally inefficient, it makes a lot of sense to share more and make sure that you vision and experience is being fully understood.