"Is it my turn yet?"

Hello

I’m guilty!

What of?

Well – it’s one of those things – perhaps it comes with being a speaker and author but there are so many ideas, thoughts and bits of ‘what I consider’ interesting information squiggerling about my mind – I just can’t seem to help myself – wanting to share them.

You know how to...

Play the board game of chess don’t you?

Well...

Speak to anyone fascinated by the game and you’ll quickly discover that the origins of the game have been lost in the mists of his story.

Did the game originate in India; China – Iran?

But no matter because...

The modern competitive game has an extra piece of equipment – extra to the board and 32 pieces – it’s a special kind of clock.
 

As you can see – it’s really two clocks with buttons to start and stop each in turn.

Wouldn’t it be just great...

If some people – those who are guilty like me of occasionally monopolising conversations – had a chess clock in front of them – even a mental one.

And then...

At the end of any conversation; having recorded the time that each party to the dialogue had spoken; took a moment to realise if the dia-logue had instead been mostly a mono-logue!

This could work...

For phone calls, for meetings, for sales calls, for social events – for any spoken interaction – couldn’t it?

I’m wondering...

If you’ve been guilty too – perhaps even only sometimes

Wasn’t it...

Someone wise one – who penned the adage: “Be interested - not interesting!” about effective communication.

And so...

With this thought in mind – I’m going to keep my mental set of clocks ticking for the next few conversations just to see where I am – and then –pretty certain my clocks are somewhat out of sync – make a determined effort to redress the balance.

Will you too – as least be mindful of the clocks

Go on then...

Peter Thomson

Editor and Clock-Watching Publisher

tgiMondays

Please do email me with any feedback or comments.

peter@tgimondays.com