Tomorrow is a year 9 careers morning. Adults will go into school and give a brief presentation on their career and advise the children on grades needed for different professions and subjects to study. This for me is what kicked off accountable communication.

There is a huge void in this whole area. We come across people on a daily basis, humans that are capable of building rockets and going to the moon! We come across a lot of negativity on a daily business whether its social media, because that’s always easy to respond to with shitty comments because you are not face to face with that person, you can write fly responses but do you hold yourself accountable?

Then primary school, it starts at school. How many times do you hear children say ‘I am better than you’ …. ‘I am better at football, rugby etc than you’ It starts with the childish banter BUT somewhere in there are the insecurities rising to the surface. The self doubt. I have realised in life, and it took me a while, that the most genuine people are the people who are content. Content with themselves and their lives. I actually took myself away from people as much as possible for a long time. Including family as sometimes they can be the most negative.

It goes through to adulthood. A whole lot of people whether you are a Director of a company, a CEO, Doctor, waitress it doesn’t matter. How many conversations have you listened to with someone telling you how good they are or how many cars they have or related to material things. This is where less can be more. People who are perhaps quieter are usually the gems. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with being successful but if you are amazing at your job do you need to vocalise that, unless you are of course selling your services. There is a difference in how we communicate and this is what I believe should be taught at career events and through school right from the very beginning. When you come across a successful person who is humble and genuine that can be a rare find. When deciding on a career and working with children we talk about grades and subjects to study and of course salary and income but you can’t teach genuinity. However you can program the mind and reprogram. How many people listen waiting for the other person to stop talking because we are desperate to answer or have our say? We need educating on our personalities and this does not need to be boring. For children, especially young children it should be like medicine in a sweet. If we did this from day one we might develop a better future for humanity. As adults are we accountable for our moods and actions and our conversation around our children or work colleagues. How many times do you hear people complain about their job or life? Comments such as ‘living the dream’

Communication needs to be understood and it does not need to be taught sitting in a room listening all the time, It can be life changing, wouldn’t you rather wake up positive and happy to start the day? We get caught up on a merry go round that sometimes we can’t get off or don’t know how to change and usually are completely unaware of it all.

We have lost the hardcore attitude of get it done. I was military back in my 20’s for a short while, 5 years. In basic training you gain resilience you get your head down and do what you have to do. You don’t complain but it stayed with me as I moved onto fitness and that mindset is very much needed when you are training hard, especially for a competition.

It always comes back to understanding who we are, where we are going and what we want and most importantly of all are you prepared to do what it takes to get there? It sounds so basic but we are complex beings. Do we understand our true selves, do we take time to?

In school and business communication is everything, it defines the future of us and who and what we are about. Pay it forward. It’s amazing when companies out there support charities or offer their staff profit share or some kind of incentive and this does not need to be massive we all like to feel valued. It comes back to growth and development. To being courteous to others, genuinely thankful. A better world and a higher sense of purpose after all do any of us sit high enough to look down on others.

Thanks for reading

Rebecca