Confident Communication is the Key to Goal Achievement | Some people seem to get what they want out of any situation. Whether it’s the coworker who just started and already got the promotion or the friend who snapped up an enviable apartment before it was even listed, the rest of us can be left wondering what it is that makes them special.

As I am setting out on establishing my own consulting business, I recently signed up for a course through the Vancouver School Board (VSB) and Langara College called “Communication Confidence.”

Gwen Gnazdowsky of One Conversation Coaching & Facilitation, the instructor, showed us that we already have what it takes to get want we want; we just need to develop the skills to ask for it confidently.

Gwen is a coach and facilitator who teaches several communication classes through the adult education program through Langara College at Vancouver School Board.

Part of learning to get what you want is learning how to ask for it, she says. For one thing, many of us have goals and ambitions that we keep inside and never discuss due to our fear of failing or rejection.

However, by setting down our goals, we can identify what the process is that will get us there and what required skills we already have. We can then sell our ideas to others. For example, Gwen shared that several years ago she wrote down her goals for the future. When she discovered the note later, she realized that she had achieved each one.

The question Gwen asked us in order to bring out these secret goals was, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Since it has always been a dream of mine to travel the world as a journalist reporting on world issues from far-flung places, I decided to focus on this for our confident communication exercise. Gwen showed us how to structure our conversation, so that we were more than confident in putting our goals in to action by asking for what we need to make them happen.

Although I had to pretend the class was the editorial board of the International Herald Tribune, voicing my desire to go off on assignment didn’t seem that unreasonable once I had structured my pitch in such a way that it flowed confidently from my experience.

The entire class agreed that learning to structure the conversation was a big step towards talking about their dreams. A banker revealed that she really wanted to be a yoga teacher, while an office worker shared his idea for a social enterprise and a counselor wanted to open a private practice.

Gwen told us that this structure isn’t limited to life-changing goals. It can be applied to anything, for example, starting a new fitness program or visiting a travel destination.

While I didn’t go to the class believing that I was going to follow my dream to become an international journalist, I realized that having the confidence to talk about goals can be the first step in getting to where we want to be.