1. Prioritize! This one is especially important if you are prone to procrastinating or starting something and never finishing it. Each morning you should make a list, written or mental, of what needs to be done for day and list them in order of importance. This can be done just as you're getting out of bed or while you're having your morning coffee. If your mornings are already hectic I suggest getting up a mere 3-5 minutes early because that is really all you'll need to make this list. If you're not a morning person you can also make a list right before bed night before but then I suggest it be a written list so you don't forget anything. When making your list, try and be aware of how your body reacts. When you think of #1, your most important thing for day, does you body contract? Do you feel nervous or tense? If that's case then maybe it needs to be broken down into more manageable parts or baby steps. Don't try to do too much all at once or you'll end up getting nothing done at all! You might also consider making a second list of less important things that could be done in 5-10 minutes increments. This way, when you have a few minutes to kill between activities you won't fall into a "black hole" (see #2). Get that little bit of dusting done, throw clothes into dryer or make that hair appointment during your down time.

2. Get rid of what I call "black holes" or time wasters. Things like TV, checking your email every 5 minutes, online or computer games, and phone calls from chatty friends can be fun but they are also HUGE time wasters. According to a government census average adult watches a total of about 70 days of TV per year!!! I bet you can think of a lot more important things you could do with that time. Think about this statistic: number of minutes per week average American child (2-11years old) watches television is 1197 but average number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children is 38.5. Just spending those 70 days playing and relaxing with your children would be time better spent. Think about setting aside time each day where you turn off your TV, phone, and computer and work diligently on your to-do list. Even an hour will increase your productivity greatly.

Have you read story of jackal that fell into washer man’s tub and was colored blue? Here I narrate it once again.

Once upon a time there lived a jackal that strayed into a city in search of food. He was hungry and was being chased by a group of dogs. He accidentally entered house of a dyer and fell into a vat of indigo (blue), and was stained blue from head to toe. When he escaped from house back into forest, all animals were surprised at his appearance and could not place its identity. Taking advantage of situation, jackal decided to play situation to his advantage. He proclaimed that he was Fierce Owl, sent by king of Gods, Indra, to earth to guard forest.

The gullible animals believed jackal. The jackal then appointed Lion as his Prime minister, tiger as his guardian of bedchamber and elephant was made doorkeeper. He then drove all jackals out of sight from forest for fear of being recognized. The animals would hunt food and bring it to self-proclaimed king and king would distribute food to all equally just as a king would do. So he was leading a life of luxury. One day a herd of jackals were passing by, howling to their glory. Unable to control his natural instinct, Fierce Owl showed his natural voice and howled at top of his voice. Hearing this howl, animals realized that they had been fooled by a jackal and killed jackal instantly. Had he not opened his mouth with out giving proper thought, he would not have been killed.

No body knows what you are till time you communicate with them. Your success or failure is entirely dependent on what impression you leave on others when you communicate with them.

Communication can be categorized as verbal and non-verbal even your gestures and body language can speak a lot and will be discussed in a later chapter. Here we will be talking about first type and we will broadly discuss skills about which you, as a student are more concerned.

Good Communication Skills are essential

Being an effective communicator takes real skill. Communication skills have to be developed, honed and added to on an on-going basis. They are heart of interpersonal skills and greater your awareness of how it all works, more effective your communication will be.

To be effective in interviews or practical examinations you have to communicate well. Here we look at basic communication dynamics, learning skills to improve your communication, using effective communication to improve your personality and promote interpersonal skills.

Communication Core Skills - The Essentials

Communication is Individual: We’re not all The Same. When you look at communication, there is some thing more to merely possessing good presentation skills. Key for successful communication is to strike a good rapport with whom you are communicating. Everyone communicates differently and sees world differently. The greatest skill you can have in order to instantly and significantly improve you communications skills is to understand other person’s point view and how they see world. Then you can adjust your own communication to take that into account.

You are only one of you. There's never any one right way to communicate. Authentic effective communication always happens when we reply on those things we know to be true about or for ourselves. Remember your personal style probably says more for you that all words you use can.

Interpersonal skills. Everything communicates. Remember! If you aren't clear about what you mean and what your intention is, other person (or people) could easily (and sometimes deliberately), misinterpret what you mean.

What you do matters, as much as what you say. It's now accepted that words account for only 7-11% of a communication. Your behavior will 'read' unconsciously to other people and you can certainly be more in charge of reading matter!

Language is one of most powerful reflections of how we think and feel about others and ourselves. You need to be aware of padding, justifications and excuses you use and whether they are appropriate. You can make a big impact simply by changing some of your language and developing your verbal skills, this way you can significantly improve your communication skills. Communication Cycle: There is a neat communication cycle which will help you to understand how to make communication work better. It means that you can take responsibility for every stage on Communication Cycle. Typical Communication Cycle Spoken, , Heard , Understood , Agreed To, Acted On , Implemented

In a typical communication process one or more of above listed steps may be missing rendering process ineffective and inefficient.

Be aware of where you, or others, tend to fall off cycle, as that is where misunderstanding starts which eventually leads to many problems.

Improving Communication Skills

Attitude: You can change direction of a communication if you change your attitude. There is no one attitude that's 'right' one to have, though being direct and clear certainly helps. Just listen to other’s point of view also and do not have fixed ideas. Be prepared to change your line of argument if necessary. Enough has already been said on attitude in chapter one which is considered adequate for purpose of this book.

Effective Listening and Responding: You can have tremendous influence on a communication as listener and responder. When we get little or no response from listener, we often project our assumptions onto them about what they are thinking (and usually we assume they aren't thinking good things about us!).

Be Positive: Use affirmation and encouragement to get best out of any group that you may become member of. Notice when others do things well (even if it's part of their daily routine). This shows you're being attentive and considerate; most people respond well when they know that others are aware of what they do. This will do wonders for students staying in hostels and becoming members of diverse groups. It is also important to have positive outlook about yourself and your achievements what ever these may be. Essential Communication Skills for students. As a student you have to pay special attention to following skills: - ·Listening ·Speaking ·Writing ·Reading

How to be an Effective Listener? Be kind of listener you want others to be when you are talking. Ask, “How would I want others to listen to me?” That’s how you can be an effective listener.

Speaking