March 26th - April 16th

Speaking first and the importance.

By: Zoe Crimmel

I have no PhD or degree in speech therapy or research. Still, I have life experience as a 20-year-old, employer, college student, and observant young adult who has lived in multiple different cultures, countries, and environments. As I have written about numerous times in the past, communication is one of the hardest things to be good at but one of the most important things to master in your life as a professional in any field you pursue. Even the most awkward of computer geniuses to the most convincing lawyers need to be good communicators and here is one way you can improve your communication.

As a new employer, I know whether I am going to hire someone 3 seconds into talking with them with one thing. Now I am in no way experienced or perfect when it comes to hiring and my pool of options is mainly college tennis players but it comes down to one thing. When I pick up the phone to talk to a possible employee the biggest reason I continue to pursue someone for a job is if they start the conversation. Before I even speak to someone I see their tennis and that opens the door for them but when I pick up the phone I hear, “Hello, my name is ___ and I want to talk to you about the teaching position you have.” That is what gets them in the door. You set the tone for the conversation, you tell me why you are here and how much you want to be here. Waking into a room and starting the conversation, introducing yourself first, or even just saying good morning/afternoon/evening makes sure that you are noticed. In college, I have found that this is the most effective way to get noticed. I go to teachers' offices and I start the conversation, “Good afternoon Dr. ____ I was wondering if you could help please me with . . .” 99% of the time the answer is yes because I’m not wasting anyone's time because this is a precious commodity.

As the semester comes to a close my workload has grown and this has made it harder for me to write. I hate leaving you all for such long periods but unfortunately, the time that I had 2 years ago when I started this blog is not the same that I have today. As I grow up I take on new responsibilities in college, work, and life overall. This weekend is the SWAC finals too so the season is coming to a close and though I wasn't able to participate I have started practicing again! Just ground strokes and volleys but nothing above shoulder level, at least not for a little longer. It has been so nice to come back to the court and feel myself connect with it once more but it has also been another battle mentally for myself. The other day during practice I got very frustrated with myself because I wasn't playing well. Now my battle is reminding myself that I haven't played in 6 months and I need to come back to be able to get to where I was and that is going to take time. I am not a very patient person when it comes to myself as a human. Others in certain situations I can wait and be patient and sometimes I surprise people with it but with myself, zero patience and it does negatively affect me and my growth. These past 6 months I have found out what life is like without tennis and it sucked but also gave me a chance to heal other parts of myself and get stuff done in school and work. 

I know this was a short update but I wanted to write something even though I am busy because I feel I owe it to all of you to keep you guys updated. Time is flying and whenever I say to myself, "I'll do it tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" I look back and realize two weeks have passed and I never finished my blog post. This time it was almost a month. Sitting down and writing in my journal my blog or just any paper about my day, my week, and my month makes me stop and connect with time. To make myself pause my life for 5 minutes and think what is happening with ME! Everyone I meet I encourage to start journaling or writing what is going on in their heads because our minds do not have endless space and when it fills up we start forgetting stuff and usually the first things we forget are ourselves! I write to you all to take my pause and remember who I am through the words I give to you. I hope you all have an amazing day and remember to enjoy it!