TED
Having the best ideas in the world won't help you if no one wants to listen.
Speaker and author Julian Treasure gave a popular TED Talk in 2014 that explained how anyone can speak effectively, whether in a conversation or in front of a crowd.
How well you influence others, he said, is as much about you do say as what you don't.
Here are the bad habits you need to avoid if you want people to listen to you, which Treasure calls the "seven deadly sins of speaking."
Speaking badly of somebody else seems to have a chain reaction, Treasure said.
If you engage in gossip, you can give yourself a bad reputation and inspire others to start gossiping about you.
If you fill your conversations with judgments of others, you're making the person you're speaking with self-conscious of being judged themselves, Treasure said.
They'll be afraid to open up to you and may shut down completely.
Treasure said that his mother, in her latter years, became incredibly negative — she would even find the disappointment in arbitrary things like what day it happened to be. Treasure would force himself to stop listening as he spent time with her.
Choosing to be optimistic will simply make you more enjoyable to talk to, he said. Plus, it's better for your health.
