Listen to this if you want to level up your communication skills in 2025...

if you want to level up your communication skills in 2025 there are six powerful mindset shifts you need to adopt to help you become a more effective Communicator the truth is most people love learning tips and tricks to become a better communicator but without learning the right mindset it can keep you trapped with ineffective communication it's kind of like being a chef who keeps collecting recipes but you never actually end up cooking any of the dishes by the end of this video I guarantee that you'll have a completely different perspective when it comes to Communication

in every single area of your life number one the mindset shift to deal with nervousness the one big mindset shift I would say to make that reduces nervousness is learning about how to not be so self-conscious because if you think about it the reason we get nervous is because we become overly self-conscious if you don't spend any of your cognitive capacity on focusing on yourself well how can you be nervous and that's the beginning of nervousness because when you start thinking oh I wonder what people think of me I wonder what people are thinking of

what I'm saying I wonder how people think of what they're thinking of my voice I wonder if they think I'm dressing well today I wonder if they think my thoughts are in a coherent structure and then it's me me me me me me me and then the moment you start thinking about you the whole time do you think you get more nervous or less nervous you get more nervous so what that means is the more Consciousness you place on the self in those moments the more self-conscious you're going to be so the best mindset shift

to make when you're about to present and you're feeling nervous is realize that it's not about you if you're about to get in front of 10 15 people it's actually about the 10 to 15 people you're about to serve and when you spend all of that Consciousness and cognitive capacity thinking about other people what that means for you is that you have no cognitive capacity left to think about the self which means there's no room for self consciousness so you're no longer self-conscious you are now audience conscious you are now conscious about the audience and

focused on them it's one of the most powerful ways that I've learned how to reduce nervousness I used to live in America and I grew up in Australia and in Australia we never use the word serve and that's what I first came across that word was in America where they often have that mindset of service where they say how can I serve you you know and I I I think being in a mindset of service making it about others and not s very important mindset shift I've spoken in front of audience members of thousands and

I've been able to reduce it just with that single mindset shift I go you know what if I just focus on making it about them and I can just get through to one person it will make this entire thing worthwhile because if I shared my content and they shift the way they communicate it's going to completely change their lives they're going to get that promotion that they've always wanted okay I'm going to focus on that person as I'm delivering the presentation and already even as I'm thinking about this I I feel better already because I'm

not thinking about myself number two the mindset shift to stop rambling it's one of the traits that leads to ineffective communication either we talk in circles we repeat ourselves or we ramble and we give too much information and I have seen this the best remedy for this to start fixing the problem is learn this one simple start of a sentence and it's the one thing start your sentence with the one thing so if I was to start talking about magic oh my goodness I could talk to you about slot of hand I could talk to

you about slide of mind I could talk you about all the different types of magic I could talk about mentalism I could also talk about uh gag magic so magic using props I could talk about and then again I could just start rambling but then the moment I give myself the framework of the one thing if someone wanted me to talk about magic I could say the one thing about magic that you need to know is Showmanship is a critical ingredient not just technical skill so what beginning with the sentence saying the one thing does

is it gives your mind the ability to focus on what's the core thing people should take away from that what's the core thing and then all of a sudden you start with the end in mind as opposed to when you don't start with the one thing your brain now will just keep rattling off everything the other person needs to know about the project especially if it's a work context they'll give you 17 updates in one and it just allows that crazy mind that we all of us have crazy brains they're all crazy it just allows

us to Channel our thinking and channel our dialogue and if you want to start to get fancy it's the one thing it's the two things or it's the top three things of this it's a very simple way to get really focused and it's something to start with and you'll be shocked at what that does and if you give that to people as a tool who tend to be a little scattered it's unbelievable how concise they're capable of being just by giving them that simple framework this next one is a big adjustment you have to make

psychologically and I'll I'll I'll make this psychological shift for you in in in one example I hear this all the time people go oh Vin my industry the the the topic is so dry it's so boring anybody else feel there in an industry like that they go oh the topic I talk about is so boring it's so dry my industry is so boring it's so dry everybody else who talks about this topic is so boring it's so dry do you know what you have to realize your industry might be boring your topic might be boring

but you you don't have to be boring yeah yeah you don't have to be boring and I think people to think oh my industry is boring my my content I guess I'm going to be boring too no no no no what you'll find crazy is that the thought leaders in certain areas of expertise they tend to just be the person who's the best Communicator in that realm because they're able to communicate it in the most exciting and most fun and engaging way it's like new degrass Tyson extremely intelligent man but because he's able to communicate

physics and talk about physics and such a strong and charismatic way people now love physics because of him like I love physics and I love learning about astronomy and all of these different things because of him whereas there are people who don't like learning about Finance because they think about their professor in finance at University so what I'm saying is there are so many things you can learn to be able to make yourself more engaging instead of just giving the information what could I be using as a metaphor what I what could I be using

as a form demonstration in my presentations what funny picture could I show to illustrate something that's happening what funny video could I show as a metaphor to demonstrate something interesting that links to the topic that I'm talking about hey by the way if you're new here or if you love watching my videos and you wanted to join me for a class to learn in a more structured way then click the link in the description or I've also left a pin comment with the link that you can click as well it's completely free I hope you

come join me for a class number four the power of Storytelling in job interviews you need to use storytelling because we we we all know what's the first question every interviewer asks in every interview we ever do tell me a little bit about yourself they literally at the beginning of every interview give you permission to share a story and if you use that opportunity to use that opportunity to share a story what that does is it allows you to use a more powerful connection device that creates connection for an extended period of time even after

the interview the connection lingers that's how powerful a story actually is let me give you an example so I'm going to give you a roleplay situation right now so say for example I was in an interview and they said hey Vin tell me a bit about yourself it's very easy for me now just to say oh look I'm someone who's very uh I I'm punctual I'm uh honesty is a big attribute that I I admire being respectful and then I'm just listing off traits and let how I was I was applying for a head of

innovation or something instead of doing that imagine you went in and you shared a story about yourself and imagine I went into that and I said hello Susan and then Susan says oh Vin why don't you tell us a bit about yourself I said oh Susan thank you Susan when I was when I was younger believe it or not I I didn't fulfill the Asian prophecy no I didn't become an accountant I left my degree in accounting to pursue magic and Susan the reason I loved magic and I pursued magic was because and yes my

parents were disappointed they love me now though Susan but the reason I pursued magic was because I loved problem solving that's what magic is Susan people don't realize it but a magic trick is just a problem you can't solve and I loved being able to just sit with a problem that I couldn't solve I used to watch the videos from David Copperfield I'd watch it then I'd watch it in reverse then I watch it in slowmo and obsess about it until I would be able to solve how the problem was done and Susan the reason

why I bring this up as you ask me tell me a bit about yourself is because I believe that as head of innovation you need someone who obsesses over problem solving and I can tell you that in my career now that's become my super Super Power Pause or all of a sudden now I had the opportunity to share something insightful about myself have a little bit of fun and I now am building Rapport by sharing more about me and also because I now storytellers that I'm a perfectionist right they keep using that now they're going

to remember oh do you remember Vin he's a magician loves problem solving not only does it build rapport it builds connection and not doesn't do that it makes you more memorable and when you start off with a stronger connection tool because trust me I know that this happens with me you'll have your own versions of this if you've got a strong enough story they're going to go really you did what you used to be a magician or they'll go what really you used to you used to be into this sport or you did that or

you did this all of a sudden now it opens up the door for more connection and I I think it's it's so critical to learn how to because within a job interview there's not just one opportunity to story tell there's so many opportunities to story tell at the start you've got a free opportunity to do it and then after that you've got multiple other opportunities where you can share a story and it comes up in the places where you least expect where they say hey tell me about how you would deal with this situation Vin

that's actually an opportunity for storytelling because instead of oh the way I'll do with that opportunity that that situation is I'll do ABCD well instead of doing that you go I've experienced that situation in the past and four years ago we had a situation in the organization where X Y and then you you story share and that makes all the difference tactically storytelling enhances Rapport to a whole another level this is why the unfortunate thing happens in life where and I know you feel this where you're like ah damn you Brad Brad got the job

promotion Brad got the job and you know that Brad's not as smart as you you know that you're smarter than Brad but it's because Brad understands how to build rapport Brad knows how to story tell he builds stronger connections with people he gets the job we don't I've been there because I've I've had a bread in my life number five dealing with negative comments about your growth Vin how can I not care about what people think I find that this is the main reason that I get held back when it comes to me talking differently

even me changing the way I dress first of all there's a wonderful quote that BR Brown has made very popular and it's by Theodore Roosevelt and it's called The Man in the arena have a listen to maybe even close your eyes as you listen to this it makes it more theatrical but here's the quote it is not the critic who counts not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the door of Deeds could have done them better the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face

is marred by dust sweat and blood who strives valiantly who s who comes short again and again who spends himself in a worthy cause who at best knows in the end the Triumph of high achievement and at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold timid Souls who neither know know Victory nor defeat I love this this is such a powerful quote right because what it points out is that the people who just judge you and critique you the people who just leave

comments on the way that you're talking because you're trying to improve the way you communicate they're not in the arena with you and the only people I really care about the the opinions of those that I actually care about are the people who are actually in the arena with me right so so if if if you're in the arena with me and you're getting punched and you're getting thrown around as you're trying to improve your communication skills and you're making mistakes well then I'll take your I'll take your concerns more seriously whereas most people who

just judge you and they're not in the arena I'm not really going to accept your feedback and I'll say thank you but no thank you so that's the first way that I deal with feedback especially when I create content as well because I create content so much online I get a lot of negative feedback how do I deal with that negative feedback well the person who left me the comment that was really mean I always I I don't even give them the time of the day but I often think to myself well are you in

the arena of content creation have you been creating content for the last 10 years like I have well if you don't well then don't mind me as I choose not to take that piece of feedback on board so again that's that's the the first thing that I'm going to say to you now I'm going to give you more than just one thing the second thing that I'm going to say to you is that the reality is if you try to please everyone you'll please no one that's one of the most important rules I learned in

the water theater and it's that if you try to please everyone you're going to please no one because you'll do nothing you'll be so scared to do anything because you don't want anyone to be upset by you doing something and because you don't want to disrupt anyone you just end up doing nothing different and then as a result you end up pleasing no one I I know that I'm not going to be every body's cup of tea and that's okay I'm fine with that and you should be too all right so that's the second thing

I want to say and the third thing the final thing I want to say to you is that the reason why we're so afraid of what other people think is because we think everybody is thinking about us all the time and that just couldn't be further from the truth there's a beautiful quote from Mark Twain who says the following quote you worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do people aren't thinking about you yet we're sitting there thinking oh people are always thinking about me they're thinking about how

I sound I just said something wrong they're going to be thinking about that for the rest of their lives the reality is no they're not they're more concerned about last night I went to the grocery store I bought the butter that was on sale then I ate it and it didn't taste very good so now I've made a big wrong decision I'm never going to buy that brand of butter again I'm going to make sure I go back to the grocery store next week and buy the good brand of butter and I'm not going to

cheap out on that's what they're thinking about they're thinking about their own lives and them yet you're sitting there going oh my God everyone's thinking about me everyone is thinking about me there's a psychological concept called the spotlight effect and people think the spotlights always on them so if everybody thinks the spotlights on them nobody's thinking about each other really so I say that whole concept not to be mean I say that to free you from the fear of judgment it's not real you know all all of us allow something that's not real stop us

from changing the way we sound stop us from changing the way we communicate stopping us from changing the way sometimes we even dress because we go oh I can't wear that people going to think I'm crazy well they're not thinking about you anyway so the only person that think think that's think you're crazy as you number six immersion when it comes to communication skills immersion is critical you have to immerse yourself in it and this is what happened to me when I was younger because as I was learning English the only times I would speak

English at school was during recess and lunch and I tried to keep that to a minimum too because I didn't like the way I sounded I didn't like the way I spoke I didn't like my I'd make so many grammatical errors I would only practice speaking English probably about 10 minutes a day and I wondered why do I suck why am I so bad at this and it was because of the simple reason that I didn't practice I didn't immerse myself in it and and you've got to understand this because the most common flaw that

people make when they're practicing the communication skills it's this they say Vin I don't have anyone to practice with there's no opportunities for me to practice my communication skills and that is one of the greatest Illusions in the world because my vocal teacher gave me the answer to this this because I used to tell her oh there's there's no point in me practicing I have no one to practice with I have nowh to practice do you know what she said to me she goes you're a silly young man you're a silly silly young man little

bit of a stupid man if I might say I love her I love how she's nice and with a touch of meanness it's beautiful it just it just gets me motivates me in the right way and then she goes honey every time you open your mouth that is you composing every time you open your mouth that is an opportunity to practice so never use that excuse with me again can you open your mouth are you by yourself and I remember what she said I was like yeah yeah I can't open my mouth when I'm by

myself that's actually a good point so all of a sudden I literally started talking to myself as I was practicing I'd have questions for myself and I just talk to myself I practice and I just start practicing all of the vocal qualities that I desired I started to practice with the structure of Storytelling the structure of using my voice body I started to practice by myself think about it musicians when they're practicing with their instrument do they always have an audience where do they practice who are they playing for they're playing for themselves as they're

practicing before they get to the concert people say the definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity whereas I think far too many of us don't prepare and as a result of not preparing with the skill of masterful communication the job interview comes along and then we don't speak in a way that has executive presence we don't use storytelling to build connection and then as a result we thought that we would rise to the occasion but in actual reality you don't rise to the occasion you fall back to your level of preparation and this is

why some people go oh I'm so lucky in my life well it's because that person has prepared a lot in their life and when some people go oh I'm so unlucky well it's because you haven't been preparing opportunities still come your way they do but because you haven't prepared it doesn't look like it's an opportunity it comes up as failure it comes up as missed opportunities when you start to prepare opportunities now start to look like career progress you actually see it as success it's because of the preparation so don't wait until you need it

let 2025 be the year you prepare so that for 2026 20127 moving forward you'll be the luckiest person you know you'll be the luckiest person you know