The fact of the matter is that each of us lives inside our own little isolated bubble. No matter how much socialization and interaction we have with those around us, our peers and coworkers and even our families, one thing remains set apart – our perception of the world. At the end of the day, we truly only ever see the world through our own eyes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If anything, in this day and age, one’s own mind could be perceived as the last true bastion of privacy and personal space, and a much-needed one at that.
And in the business world especially, it’s something to remain mindful of. It’s no secret that one of the great keys to success is communication; more specifically, through the continued sharing of information.
It’s an easy mindset to fall into, believing that others think the same way that we do. We often take it for granted that everyone else operates in the same mental patterns and views the world through the same lens that is unique to all of us, even to the point of assuming most of the time that the rest of the world has access to the same knowledge and experiences as ourselves, though of course, this could not be further from the truth.
No two minds are alike, no two lives able to act as a mirror to one another. And when we forget this basic truth, so wrapped up are we inside our own heads and operating off of our own biased understandings, communication often fails simply because we forget to put ourselves in the mindset of someone else.
I’m guilty of it myself, I’ll fully admit it. It’s happened many times before in my professional and personal life alike, and I know that try as I might it will most certainly happen again. At the end of the day, it’s just another facet of what makes us human after all. But we certainly shouldn’t forget to remain mindful of the countless others who exist outside of ourselves and our personal sphere of experience. There’s nothing like a little mindful empathy to help bolster more effective communication.
