Habits and Hustle - Episode 505: Jefferson Fisher: How to Argue Less and Communicate Better
Episode Date: November 25, 2025How is it possible to be confident in every other area of your life, but lose your footing the second a conversation gets difficult? In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I sit down with Jefferson Fish...er, a former trial lawyer, bestselling author, and one of the most respected communication voices online, to talk about how to argue less and actually connect more. We talk about what intentional communication actually looks like in real life and why so many people slip into defensiveness instead of clarity. Jefferson breaks down the small but powerful adjustments that change everything in a hard conversation, from slowing your tone to asking questions that defuse tension instead of escalating it. He also explains why trying to “win” is the quickest way to damage trust, and how a calm, grounded “no” can communicate confidence without conflict. If you often leave conversations feeling misunderstood or emotionally drained, this episode will feel like a reset. We go deeper into how to structure a discussion so no one spirals, how to navigate people with low emotional awareness, and how to keep your composure even when your instinct is to react fast. Jefferson Fisher has helped millions of people communicate with more clarity and less conflict through his signature approach to calm, intentional dialogue. His first book, The Next Conversation, became a New York Times bestseller, and his content has reshaped how people navigate arguments, boundaries, and connection in everyday life. What We Discuss: (06:09) When what you said does not match what they heard (09:17) Slowing your tone to calm the conversation (13:58) “Nice” vs. “Kind” and why the difference matters (21:14) How to say “no” without guilt or excuses (27:26) Using frames to start hard conversations (36:41) Handling people with low emotional intelligence (51:57) Cutting weak language to sound more confident Thank you to our sponsors: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE40 for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. Momentous: Shop this link and use code Jen for 20% off Manna Vitality: Visit mannavitality.com and use code JENNIFER20 for 20% off your order Prolon: Get 30% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit https://prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Amp fit is the perfect balance of tech and training, designed for people who do it all and still want to feel strong doing it. Check it out at joinamp.com/jen Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Jefferson Fisher: Instagram: @jefferson_fisher TikTok: @justaskjefferson Youtube: @jeffersonfisher Facebook: @justaskjefferson X: @jefferson_fishr
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
Before we dive into today's episode, I first want to thank our sponsor, Therasage. Their tri-light panel has become my favorite biohacking thing for healing my body. It's a portable red light panel that I simply cannot live without. I literally bring it with me everywhere I go. And I personally use their red light therapy to help reduce inflammations and places.
in my body where, honestly, I have pain. You can use it on a sore back, stomach cramps, shoulder,
ankle. Red light therapy is my go-to. Plus, it also has amazing anti-aging benefits, including
reducing signs of fine lines and wrinkles on your face, which I also use it for. I personally use
Therisage trilight everywhere at all the time. It's small, it's affordable, it's portable,
and it's really effective.
Head over to therisage.com right now
and use code be bold for 15% off.
This code will work sitewide.
Again, head over to Therisage, T-H-E-R-A-S-A-G-E dot com
and use code be bold for 15% off any of their products.
All right, so I just kind of was gushing over you before we started, because I was saying
how much I love your content. And your story is so amazing. You were a trial lawyer, and now you've
become, like, the most renowned, like the world's leading communication coach. Like, when
you even call yourself? You tell me. I don't really know at this point. Yeah, I, in most of
the time during the day, I'm just called dad. And now, with,
the law firm and this whole social media stuff. I don't like influencer, you know, the content
creator. That doesn't really fit kind of what I do. But yeah, just communication guy. That works.
You know, it's funny. Did you ever think, for those people who are living under a rock,
I mean, Jefferson, you have like, what, like 10 million followers now, like 12 million followers?
Something insane. Something like that. It's a, it's a silly number.
Well, how did they even like what, like you started doing these.
random videos in your car, right?
Like on the way to work, like kind of give a little bit of a brief overview of who and how
this whole kind of thing started to become such a massive, massive, I guess, empire for you
so far in the communication space.
About close to, I think we're at three years now.
Three years ago, I started making videos.
This was halfway through 21, maybe.
So this is, yes, three and a half of making a video in my car with my phone on how to communicate
better, how to argue like a lawyer, how to handle people getting defensive, how to have
difficult conversations, what do you do when somebody interrupts you?
How do you deal with narcissists and toxic personalities?
And so I started giving my tips and advice of what I've learned in the courtroom and throughout
all of my life, specifically with handling and preparing clients for cross-examination and how I cross-examine
people. And those videos, something I never, ever expected, Jennifer ever, was that they started
to take off. And this was never a thing that this was a goal of mine, or this was like, oh, yes,
this is, if I only had this many more followers, no. It was like me showing friends, like,
can you believe this? Isn't this weird? And then it just slowly
started to build from there. So most, almost all of my videos are just me in my car. And why were
they in my car? Well, because I didn't have an office at the time. I was, I was in between leaving a
big law firm and going off and doing my own thing. And so it was right in the middle of that
transition. Can you tell us why it's so important to be a good communicator?
Communication touches everything that you do. You can say things by saying things and you can say
things by not saying things. You can communicate a lot in silence. If I don't hear from you in
five minutes, that's something. If I don't hear from you in five years, well, that communicates
something else. Even in the absence of sound, it's not the absence of communication. So why does
that matter? It touches everything. Anything that anybody will think about you has to do,
largely based on what comes out of your mouth. If you say something nice, congratulations.
you're a nice person. You say something rude. All of a sudden, you're not that nice of a person.
They're the people that you like and you don't like. Most of the time has to do with what they actually
said. What I like to say is you can be a kind person if you don't use kind words. So it matters
because anything that you want from wherever you've been to wherever you're going, communication
is the central key of that. You know, you've said something. I think I've seen this.
With this in your book or somewhere else, you know, I've read your book, I've seen your videos,
that the person you see isn't the person you're actually talking to, which is so true, right?
So how, what are most people getting wrong when they're speaking, when they're having conversations?
Like, what's the myths usually that you see?
That what they said was what was heard.
Okay.
And it's as simple as that.
So many times I've said something, and later on I'm in the conversation with my wife,
and she will kind of repeat what I said.
And I go, I didn't say that.
That's exactly what you said.
You said, and everybody can relate to that.
Yeah, both ways.
Yeah, or you're in a conversation with a friend, and you kind of regurgitate what they said,
and they go, that's not what I said.
That's not how I sounded.
Yeah, it is.
Here, anybody who's heard this before.
I wish I had this recorded.
I wish I had it recorded.
So you could see what you look like, you know, that kind of thing.
It's true.
We always have a sense of, like, when you talk, you actually don't really know how your voice sounds.
You just know what it sounds like in your head.
You ever watch a video and been like, is that how I sound?
All the time.
All the way I look.
Yeah, and, yeah, you and I both for sure.
And it's because we are very poor at judging.
and being subjective of our own material.
And so it's the biggest miss
is assuming that what you said
was exactly how it was received.
You know, though, I think even speaking to you, right,
tone is very important.
Because, you know, when I speak with you,
take this in the nicest possible way
because I mean it.
Your tone is very calm,
and is it that you've worked on this
because you've learned the technique,
that make like that to how to communicate more effectively to to come across a certain way are
there particular techniques such as tone such as body language to convey a different message when
you're speaking to get your point across more effectively to kind of show a different type of
personality right yeah I I would say that a good part of this is learned and a good part
of this is my personality let's say 30% of this is my
own disposition, the nature versus nature, and the other 70% is learned, both through my childhood
and also what I've seen in courtrooms and some of the most intense trials is you have to
find a place that is going to help slow you down. When you think of music, for example,
If you're wanting to study and you're wanting to focus, what kind of music do you put on?
Do you put on the screamo?
Do you put on the really high energy pop?
Or do you save that for when you work out, when you want to be energized and move fast-paced?
If you're studying and you're wanting to focus, more than likely, you're wanting something that is going to be easy on the ears that you're going to want to listen to that's going to help you focus, to help you clarify and to narrow.
your concentration. And so whenever you have a tone of really, really fast-paced, super high
pitch, and these people that kind of make you anxious as soon as you're hearing and talking to
them, just hearing my voice do that right now makes you feel a certain way. Yeah. I don't know what's happening.
I don't know if I like this. And so its tone has a lot to do with regulating another person's
emotions because when I speak slower, you think slower. When I,
speak slower. You feel slower. Everything is, now you're matching my energy. And now we're talking
at a pace that we're going to both feel comfortable. It's like walking into your grandmother's home.
Like you feel like you can just sit and you're safe in the conversation rather than always
wondering what's happening. Where can I sit? How much of it's body language? Because I feel like
the body language, the tone, you can get away with a lot more difficult.
things to say if you are saying it in a in a specific tone or your body language is saying
something like all these more subliminal things that are about the words yeah you know how much
percentage who knows i know there are tests on them bad i don't really know if they're you know
correct i i don't have any reason why they wouldn't be right right right you just say like the word okay
all right i can say okay or i can go okay
yeah exactly or or i can go okay like it is it's always uh or you put it in a text right
it's like okay what kind of okay is that because we never read it in a positive okay
it's we read it as a okay all right whatever like we put our own negative connotation on it
and what could that also mean with body language so i could say
okay or I can cross my arms and go okay as in like go for it you get you think you're so big and bad
all right you go for it I've now crossed my arms I put myself on a position of disbelief I'm now doubting
I'm now defending I'm now protecting myself um body language has a lot to do with it it's it's this
this is the takeaway if your body language does not match what's coming out of your mouth
the other person is going to sense that and their signals are going to go this is not matching
This is not jiving.
This is not connecting.
I cannot trust this.
That's what happens.
What are some simple techniques that people could easily change of what they're doing
to be a better communicator?
Is it watching their tone?
Is it a way that they can?
Because like you said, I think what you said was so accurate, right?
I think I sound a certain way, right?
And then we look back and I'm like, oh, my God, I can't believe I sound it.
like that, or I can't believe I said it that way. Like, how do we teach people who are listening
how they can be a better communicator in simple ways? Well, the most practical way, if you want to know
how do I communicate, ask your best friend. Ask your best friend, say, how would you describe the
way I communicate? And what would you, if you had a magic wand, wish that I would do differently? And your
best friend will most likely tell you. Now, what are some other practical tips that you can
that's a good one, though? Ask someone. Hopefully they'll be honest with you. Ask, yeah, ask somebody
that you trust. What does my communication say about me? I'm really working on my communication
and how I talk and you're somebody that I trust. How would you, if you could describe in three
words, my communication style, like how does it come across to you in ways that I'm not understanding?
As soon as you admit that you have blind spots in your life, particularly when it comes to communication, you're going to get that kind of feedback.
So what you're asking for is what you'll attract.
And it's the same way with how you talk.
If how you talk is also what you will attract.
People that are nice and kind, they don't attract people who are ugly and rude.
Well, that's true.
It's not the way it works.
But there's a difference, right, between nice and kind?
Very much so.
Very much so. And for example, you know, I just made a, I think I just had an episode or a video about this because it hit me one day of like, you know, there is a very big difference about it. Nice is surface level. Nice is politeness. Nice as, I just want it to look nice. Oh, you, I'm complimenting on the surface of what you have. And I don't want to say something mean because that's not nice. Kindness is related to the word kin, it's family, its connection, it's much deeper.
Kindness says, I care about you enough to tell you something, even though it doesn't sound nice.
Even if it's hard, even if I disagree.
People who don't want to rock the boat, I just want to be, you know what?
Sure, I'll definitely pick that up.
Yeah, why not?
They just want to be the people pleasers.
You can absolutely have your own boundaries and say no and still be kind.
So that's the difference of those.
I want to make sure I hit the takeaways.
what are some other practical tools that people can use?
Aside from asking a friend would be as often as they can, slow down their words.
I know that's easier said than done, but even if you were to take a three-second pause
before you respond to somebody, I don't care who it is.
Take a three-second pause.
You're going to naturally sound like your words were intentional.
and when you do that, people will naturally lean into it. They want to hear what you're saying. It's
like, it makes them curious. No, no, what's Jennifer going to say? I don't, I'm leaning. She's
definitely thinking about it. I can tell. She's acknowledging what I've said. She's analyzing it.
So now what she's saying, she's choosing her words. So I want to, I want to hear them. What's
another good one is simply asking an additional question. Whenever, let's say you and I are,
our best friends, and you just tell me about your weekend. And you said, I said, how was your
weekend? You said, oh, it was great. We just went to this park. And I said, oh, that's not my favorite
park, really. You know, where I like is I like to go and I start talking about this place in Cabo.
You know, I've never been. But let's say it's some like fancy, smancy place. And I start trying to
inadvertently one-up you, all right, in that conversation. What are you going to want to do?
You're going to like, okay, well, what's the point of me sharing with you?
Okay, great.
You just stepped on my story rather than you missed that opportunity to connect.
What do you do?
Ask another question.
What was your favorite part?
What did you like about it?
Make it more about the other person.
So that's a good point.
So the first thing you said, and I think this one, you do this very well, you slow down.
You slow down when you speak to somebody because I notice with you, you speak slow.
So then even subconsciously, I do see myself coming, I'm like leaning more forward.
And my voice, I'm speaking slower, if you can believe it, because you're speaking slower.
So the slowing down makes you way more of an effective communicator.
And then the second thing you said was ask more questions.
Now, a lot of people, this is like the curiosity part, like for people who are curious like me or like you, it's easy for people.
some people don't have that natural inclination and also to not sound phony or not to not to sound like they're it's that they're phoning it in right like how do you like how can somebody ask more questions that actually connect people versus just sounding kind of like they're they're like doing something because they're trying to connect does that make sense it makes sense there there has to be
a level of genuine interest that nobody can teach. There's not a magic phrase that either one
of us can tell somebody to have an actual genuine interest in someone. Like if you've ever been
on a date and the person across them, you really isn't asking that many questions. They just like
to talk about themselves. It becomes very apparent. I've had the question where somebody says,
How can I have them, you know, ask more questions about me?
And I said, you go to the next person.
You don't stay.
Right.
If that's the first thing out of the gate is they're not genuinely interested in me.
Then you say, thank you, nice knowing you, and you go live your life because there has to be a genuine level of true interest.
That's, if that connection isn't authentic, like if we're dating and I, if we're dating and
I want to know something about somebody, I'm going, you don't have to ask me to ask questions.
I'm already doing it. When you find something you're excited about and you want to learn,
maybe it's a new topic, a new hobby, you're asking questions about it. Why? Because you have
a genuine interest in it. My kids, my wife, my family, I am asking questions about their day
because I am genuinely interested in it. So when you find that you have that sense of authenticity in
your life. There's no magic questions of being, magic being that somebody's going to naturally
go, wow, all of a sudden they're very interested in me. They have to really want it. I do,
I agree. I do think, though, there are people who are just naturally better conversationalists, right?
They're able to keep the dialogue going and you ask questions that are, that keep the conversation
moving at a pace where it doesn't feel like you're just like, just kind of like giving them like
just shock on question, question, question.
And I mean, when you're in business, especially, it's so important for that connection,
you know, to have that connection with somebody if you're in sales, right?
And so for me, anyway, people always ask, like, what are some techniques?
Because the more you're connected to someone, obviously, the better to build a relationship, right?
So that's why I'm asking, that's why I was asking you the question about that,
because it's a question that I'm always getting like, I don't know,
Let me ask Jefferson. He's coming on and he does this all the time. But you said something also about saying no, right? Because I think a lot of people please are a struggle with this. And people who just feel uncomfortable, I feel uncomfortable when someone asks me to do something and I don't want to do it, but I feel bad saying no. So I try to like figure out how to get out of it. What are some good strategies of how we can get, how we can say no in a better way or not feel uncomfortable?
or badly.
So I have a method of specifically, let's say, turning down something that you're nervous about.
Somebody invited you somewhere and you're like, I don't really want to go, but I'm going to feel bad and I don't want to upset this person.
What we typically do is we say no thank you or we say, oh, I love to.
This sounds so wonderful.
Thank you so much, but I can't, right?
And then it's usually because, because I just got so many things in.
I'm just so stressed, and I just have, you know, I need to go walk my plant and water the dog.
And all this stuff of the, you're just trying to make up to make it, make it feel justified.
Right.
You want to make the feel, the no, feel worth it.
Right.
to you, subjectively.
And what I recommend is a system where it puts the no right up front rather than the
I love to, but I can't.
Get rid of the butt and reverse it.
I can't make it, period.
Thank you so much for inviting me.
So you start with the no, and then next goes into the gratitude.
I appreciate you thinking of me.
Sounds like a wonderful time.
And three, add in the kindness.
Let me know how it goes. I know it's going to be a wonderful event. You know, can't wait to hear about this in the future. It's short, concise, and you don't feel like you're left hanging having to over-explain the no. So that would be my much better method of saying no to events and invitations. Now, how do you say no to the typical stuff? If you don't feel comfortable saying, no, thank you. That's not for me. What I like to do is
say, I made a promise to myself. I made a promise to myself to stay on task today. I made a promise to
myself that I'm going to be home this weekend. Whenever you make promises to yourself,
people go, oh, well, they're already committed. They don't want to try to encourage you to break that.
And also, it helps keep you on task, especially if it's something that's a priority to you.
I made a promise to myself to prioritize the family this weekend.
It's so funny because people are, I'm going to talk for myself,
but I know a lot of people are probably in the same boat,
where you just kind of fumble around making a million excuses
or trying to think of an excuse because you feel so guilty or bad
that it actually comes off worse than if you just said, I can't, right?
Like eliminating the excuse from your answer is what you're saying.
Absolutely. Yes. Whenever you add on the
because or you add on the justification. It makes it look worse because you know what it feels like
when somebody starts going, oh my gosh, I would so love to make this. I just have so much going on.
I'm so busy and they start giving you a list. And what you want to respond is, you know,
you can just say no, right? Why make it awkward with all this inauthenticity? Now I don't really
like you because now I can tell you're just sugar-coding. So it's like, you know what, why not just say no?
You know, you could just say no.
So it's almost counted against you
when you're actually trying to feel their feelings for them.
Right.
You know I'm all about finding an edge,
the small daily habits that give you more energy,
focus, and resilience.
But that's why I am hooked on monovitality.
Most people are mineral deficient,
and that means low energy, brain fog,
slow recovery, and dull skin.
But mana flips the switch by giving your body a complete spectrum of minerals it actually knows how to use.
We're talking Shilajit from the Himalayas, Ormos from the Dead Sea, and marine plasma from the ocean, plus amino acids and 88 other trace minerals.
The benefits are real.
We're talking steady all-day energy, sharper focus, faster recovery, a stronger immunity plus glowing skin.
But the biggest win, it fuels your cells for real longevity.
Think of it as like a cellular switch-on formula, not as a stimulant, but the raw power your
body needs to create energy and repair itself.
Try it now, and I bet you'll be hooked to.
Go to manavitality.com and use code Jennifer 20 for a discount.
That's manavitality.com.
M-A-N-A-Vitality.com and use code Jennifer 20.
Let me share my daily routine game changer with you. It's the Momentus 3. I've been using
their protein, their creatine, and omega-3 combo for months now, and the results are
undeniable. These nutrients are key for long-term health and performance, but
hard to get enough of through diet alone. The crea pure creatine boosts both physical and your
mental performance. The grass-fed weight tastes great with no weird aftertaste, and the
omega-3 is a must for recovery. Since adding these, my energy, my recovery, and my overall well-being
has really improved. So if you want better performance, this is the way to go. Visit livemomentus.com
and use my code, Jen, for 35% off your first subscription.
That's livemomentous.com code gen for 35% off your first subscription.
Trust me, you'll be happy you did.
You know what I'm wondering with you as you're talking,
because you have so many videos and so much good at,
good information of how to become much more effective as a communicator, how to have difficult
conversations, which I want to ask you about. But as you were saying that I was curious,
like, what is the one area? Because now you have such a mass audience that you see people
struggle with the most. Like when you get comments or when you get people, when you post a video,
what is the one thing that you've seen a major through line that people are really struggling with?
They say, I love these tips. How do I implement these in real time?
They say, if only I can remember, yeah, they say, how can I remember these? How can I remember these? That's, that's their, if I can only remember these in the moment, that's probably the number one.
You know, outside of that, how do you implement these kind of techniques and tips, I hear the most about people who are struggling to find their voice in communication. They don't, they don't know.
what to say. They don't know how to structure it. They don't know how to, they know they have a
conversation coming up and it's eating them alive. That's the kind of stuff I hear. Kind of like with
speaking stuff, like when they have a speaking in gate, like, because you know, the fear of speaking
in public is like one of the biggest, it's worse than death, right? So, like, is that the
type of thing you're speaking about or just in general with people not being able to stand up for
themselves and kind of get their message across in a way that's effective in general or being
bullied. Definitely. Yeah, it's definitely the latter. People who haven't spoken to their sister in two
years and they want to talk to them and they don't know how. Somebody who hasn't spoken to their
dad, you know, for most of their life. And now they're at a place where they want to connect. How do they
talk. They're at a place where they don't feel honored and respected where they work. How do they
have that conversation? How do they stand up for themselves when they feel like there was somebody
who's always belittling them or putting them down? It's that kind of stuff. That's that's
the heart of it. So let's talk about a couple of those things, right? So let's talk about having in
general, what's the best way to have a difficult conversation? Because I do believe that that's something
that we all struggle with in general.
When it comes to difficult conversations,
you have to know where you're going.
If you don't have a goal for the conversation,
you're just flying blind.
You'll run in circles.
You'll get to the point where y'all are talking
and you go, how did we get on this?
We've gotten off track.
Okay, back to my point.
And you realize you've just,
you've wasted 30 minutes an hour,
talking about something that's not at all,
relevant. So having a goal is huge. I teach what I talk about my book is the power of frames,
using framing for difficult conversation. That is something that is a lifelong skill,
because when you can craft conversations and structure them in a way that is going to
lower anxiety, keep you both regulated, keep you on task, and keep your sight,
set on the goal or instead of down in the weeds, then what you find is that you end up having
better relationships with these people. And better relationships will ultimately lead to a better
life. So give me a conversation. Give me, what does it mean to have these frames? Can you give us
an example of what a conversational frame would look like? Absolutely. Let's say you and I are at work
and let's say I'm your superior and you need to, I need to address something that is sensitive.
Maybe you didn't do that great on some kind of project or there was some issues about it.
Where most people get wrong is they'll lead with that, hey, Jennifer's good.
Yeah, good to see you. You good? Everybody good. Hey, so listen.
And then it just starts going downhill from there. And then you're just left going, what's,
What's going on? What do you mean? Am I fired? Am I not fired? Are you mad? Who's mad? It's nothing
but red lights and red flags from now and now. A better method is using a frame. So what you do is
number one, you begin the conversation by telling them what you want to talk about. Two,
you then go into the goal. You tell them what you want to walk away with in the conversation.
Why are you there? And then three, you get their buy-in into the frame, like a
frame, it's like a picture frame. Paintings and pictures look different depending on the frame.
It's the same exact thing. So you and I could talk about an element or an issue, but how I frame it
can make it look entirely different. So it's using that power. So give me an example, yeah.
Yeah, I might say, hey, Jen, I need to talk to you about some comments she made at last Thursday's
meeting. And I just want to walk away feeling that there's a new understanding that we can't talk
about this topic anymore. Does that sound all right? Now you know exactly where I'm going and what it's
about. Or let's say we're at home and I say, hey, I'd like to talk with you about the kid's schedules
for next Friday and I just want to walk away with feeling we're on the same page. Is that cool?
Like I'm, instead of me sending you a text saying, hey, can we talk? Or a text that says we need to talk
or, hey, can you visit? Or the person who knocks on the door and says, hey, do you have five minutes?
like these vague mean-nothing type of open the door to limitless time of going,
I don't know what you want to talk about it.
I might have five minutes.
Is it for a joke?
Are you trying to change my whole world about something?
Are you trying to bring up something that's absolutely irrelevant and going to be a waste of time
because it's a scenario that's never going to happen?
So it's using frames is an incredible tool.
So especially when it comes to sensitive conversations,
example, let's say you and I are in a bad place and you and I haven't spoken in a while.
I'd say, hey, I'd like to talk with you about something that's important. I mean, that's been weighing
on my heart. And I want to walk away with us knowing that we're still friends and we still love
each other and we're going to be in each other's lives for a long time. Is that okay?
Like, you're going to, now they know already, we're still going to be good. Like I already know,
we can talk and now we have a safe place within this frame to talk about the hard things
and ultimately know what's the takeaway we're still going to be in each other's lives so whenever
you remove the anxieties of the unknowns from the outset in the frame the conversations always go
better that's a great point so basically removing because you're right that vagueness is what keeps
people in that like a loop of anxiety so when so what do we do when we do when we're on text messages
like you know so we don't say can we can we talk what would be a
alternative. You don't want to write everything in a text. So would you just say not to text and just
pick up a phone? Because now everything is so digital, right? People are like relying so heavily on
the phone and people, people aren't even having conversations, let alone, you know, good ones or bad
ones, right? It's all through texting. How do we kind of, what do we do about that? Because it's also
not teaching people the proper skills or the practice to get better, right?
texting is incredibly efficient it's just not efficient at connection if you have something important
to talk to somebody pick up the phone you they have to hear your voice it's that same problem we
talked about it if you just text it okay yeah versus me on the phone saying okay like there is
such a difference. We, us, every one of us, we have a negative filter that we apply just about
everything when it comes to anything that's not our own brains. We assume somebody else's negative
intent. We assume that somebody is driving slow because they wanted to be in our way. We assume
somebody's not getting there because they're lazy. Like we assume the negatives that we also don't
apply to ourselves. And so, you know, we always have good reasons. Nobody else does. And when it
comes to conversation, using text in that way for something important is a safe way to make sure
you ruin it. You're going to, I mean, if you've ever been in an argument over text, it's a nightmare.
Oh, it's terrible. You text for paragraphs and paragraphs, and all you do is just you read the
worst way they could possibly, you know, say it, even though they're not.
And what happens is somebody will pick out just one line in the paragraph you sent and twist it and ignore everything else you sent.
Like, it's a horrible messy, messy, messy way of addressing something that's important.
Pick up the phone.
They need to hear your voice.
Yeah, even though with the, because you said that can we talk, because that's such a typical one, right?
Because even if you pick up the phone, people would normally text, can we talk to have that conversation on the phone, right?
It's like, would you, it's like, and that even is like the kiss of death, right?
Because that, so would you suggest even in a text saying, could we talk because I want to make sure and give your, to eliminate the vagueness, put it, put the, your frame in the text already to have the conversation?
Does that make sense?
Yeah, it does.
Yeah, you can certainly do that in a text.
The biggest, I mean, the, what I would consider the nail in the coffin is.
when you say we need to talk something like that that's the that's the worst that's the worst that's the
worst but when you say but if i begin with can we and i like can we can we talk about the kids schedule
for a moment in text like and then and then lead that to a call hey can we hey i'd love to catch up
with you in five minutes or whenever you have a window i like use a window because it's you know
you just assume they are they you just have these little gaps in the day but there's
nothing wrong with texting to lead up to the phone call. But I mean, do you need to give a whole
bunch of detail? No. They're also, if in text, it's like, to me, I'd much rather leave a voice
note or I would just rather call them and find out rather than spark that anxiety of, can we
talk? And they're like, yeah, what? Because the first thing they're going to think of is, what about?
So if you leave it super vague like that, instead of saying, hey, can we talk about something?
something that's important. Can you talk about something that's been in my mind? Can we talk about
the schedule, the conference, the proposal, whatever it is? Whatever it is. Okay. I want to,
I want to kind of stay on this difficult conversation because I've got so many questions about
this. Because when you're on the phone, how do you, you know, when you're having a difficult
conversation, how does someone, how do you stay calm if someone's triggering you and you're saying
something that's, you know, that they're gaslighting you? What's a good method? Like, how do you
combat when you have different if you have such a different communication style like how do you
deal with somebody who is triggering you in some way and how do you say calm speaking to them
to be effective see what i'm doing yes it's making me very uncomfortable yeah so i did that
to kind of illustrate the answer of when i add in silence
what happens is two things. One is, I am reminding the other person, I'm reminding the other person.
I am in control of what happens next. I'm in control of the conversation from here.
Or two, what happens is you or the other person will start to fill in this silence. And where do we go?
That just means we're going to reset. And when you're done talking again, I'll add that another five seconds.
of silence. Paws are extremely powerful because they give you the element of time. What do you do
when your body gets triggered? You have to add time. Time is the only way that you're going to be
able to regulate yourself. Time is a sifter of things that are important versus not important.
Time has a way of filtering that out, finding out. Did that really matter? Or was that just,
I don't remember what that was. I remember we had an argument.
three weeks ago, I don't remember what we talked about. But at the moment, it's really important.
Time slows you down. So when you're triggered, what I teach is you have to let your breath
be the first word that you say. By using your breath and slowing it down, it's naturally going to
regulate me physically, like physiologically going to regulate me. And at the same time,
it's going to regulate you. So pausing. How would you communicate?
with a narcissist, and then I can kind of go further.
I love how you're lame, well, that's the easy question.
Yeah, that's the easy question.
Well, it's the most, it's like an umbrella,
and then we can kind of go deeper into it.
Well, with narcissists,
and mind you, that term has gotten so broad.
That's right.
Extremely broad.
That title has now been given to anybody
we really don't like or even care for.
You know, I've never heard.
of an ex-spouse who wasn't one.
Exactly.
And whoever the narcissist is, it's them.
It's not me.
And so that's kind of the baseline of that.
Every one of us has what you'd consider
as narcissistic traits or behaviors or tendencies
in some given scenario.
So how do you deal with it?
Somebody's behaving badly in that way.
Is you understand the game that you're in.
It's a game I call praise or praise.
provoke, meaning if you are not showering them with praise, they will then turn to provoke.
They'll create an argument out of nothing because they delight in your frustration just as much as
they delight in your praise. It is a control tactic. It is the mom that always has to make it
about herself and create an argument. No, I'm the victim and nobody likes me and nobody's here
and nobody listens and you feel like i just cannot get out of this you have to understand you're in a
game that game you just don't play you don't respond you respond with silence or if you do you respond
very neutral you're going to say things like good to know no no to thank you for saying that
interesting like you just these one word neutral sound bites because you're not giving them
anything to grab and to twist off on. You're not giving them anything to create. And whenever you
are very neutral, short, choppy words, it's going to be a whole lot better to realize for them
it's not that fun. The game is not fun for them. They're not getting what they want. And that's how
you, that's, that's the umbrella. That's the umbrella. It's funny you say that because the word
I do believe that that word is so overused, right?
But everything always gets thrown into that bucket of narcissism.
I was more interested also in this about people who are emotionally immature or who are
lying about you, right?
When they're like, or someone who's betrayed you, how do you deal with that type of communication
to get your point across without sounding that you're dealing?
A lot of times when you're having these conversations, you're talking from your emotions and
and everything gets kind of, you're not, it's not landing well, right? Do you have any suggestions?
Well, that question covers a lot. I know. It's about five questions in one.
Yeah, yeah, five different topics. What comes up is what I teach is whenever you're in those
situations, and it could be any one of the things that you've listed, the laundry list of people
saying rude stuff, belittling things there, whatever it is, is to use questions in a way
that go to their intent. And that way you never really respond. Instead, you're still questioning
what they said. So let's say you and I are in a conversation. You say something that is
rude to me. I take it as rude. I might say, instead of me picking it up and responding and going,
me, what about you? And getting all up in that and mad and defensive and making it worse,
because now you've just justified them making it even more of a big deal.
But if I were to take a big pause after the rude thing you just said,
and I were to ask, did you mean for that to sound rude?
Now, you're left with a question.
Now, that goes directly to your intent of why you said it.
You have a choice.
You're going to either say yes.
Yes, I meant it to sound rude.
Most people are never that bold.
Some people are.
most people are not they don't like to show they're ugly they don't they don't they don't like the
the bad the messy out there most of the time what they'll say is well i mean i it's it's you know
crawfish and though meaning they'll take it back they kind of tweak it they they back down
they're realizing they got caught because the spotlight goes directly on them whenever you ask that
kind of question if i were to say did you mean for that to offend me did you want that did you say that
to embarrass me i mean it just it calls them
to task immediately.
So if someone's, by the way, I don't know how, I mean, I feel bad for your wife and kids.
Like, I don't even know how they can do.
Do they ever win any argument or I guess the point?
Oh, of course.
No way.
Yeah.
Because you, I mean, like, what happens?
Do you just have zero fighting in your house at all times?
Oh, no.
We have plenty of arguments.
Yeah, I'm human or we're human.
It's, it's, what I'll say is, I mean, in my marriage, our arguments are pretty quick.
I would imagine.
We followed this mindset of be quick to apologize.
The faster you get to the apology and finding out the miscommunication, what got lost.
And as soon as you can get quicker to the intent, and instead of beating somebody down with it,
like let's say you and I are in a conversation, and I say, did you mean for that to sound rude?
and you go, oh, no, no, no, that's not at all what I meant.
What I meant was, and you kind of start to explain, that's talking to intent.
And I go, oh, okay, thank you for clarifying that.
Okay, we can continue on or resolve it.
But if I were to continue to beat you over the head with it and go, you know, I just, I cannot believe you would say it that way.
Like, I just, I don't understand how you think it's okay.
And you're like, I've already apologized.
I've already done what I can.
And I'm the one that's, I just can't put down the hammer.
That kind of stuff can be exhausted.
it can be emotionally draining and really it's a sign by that person that they don't have the
emotional intelligence to be able to process and work through their own emotion. It typically
means there's something deeper. I like to say if you haven't heard the end of it, you haven't heard
all of it. That's so that was the word I was trying to, I was looking for before. Like how to
deal with somebody who doesn't have the emotional intelligence to have a conversation that is meant to
be effective, right? That was the word. It's not even so much the narcissism or the emotional
immaturity is the inability to have the emotional intelligence to get to the end of the conversation
without feeling that it was meaningful, right? So how do you deal with someone like that? The same way
asking questions or pausing? I'm putting it in context. I think, let me rephrase. When somebody
doesn't have emotional intelligence. You are walking with crutches in the conversation. You're not,
you're not both jogging at the same time. It's like, it's like playing against a team that all has a
basketball game where they all have, the other team has casts on their leg. Like it's, you're,
you can't effectively do what is intended. And some of that is simply awareness and the very cold,
hard truth of, I'm not going to be able to reach this person. But can you hear how having that
knowledge is also incredibly freeing in some way, where I know I've said my peace, and if that is not
enough for them, then I wish them well, because I am going to refuse to continue to make
this my priority. My grandfather would tell me, look, Jefferson, I can only tell you, I can't
understand it for you. So it's this, I have said it, and I've been here, and if that's not going
to be enough, and they don't have the emotional intelligence, then you have to have the
awareness that you're going to be stunted in the conversation where it's going to go, and that's
just the fact of it. But knowing that ahead of time is very useful information, so it doesn't waste
your time and emotion and your energy. There's nothing you can do to make somebody have more
emotional intelligence. What you can do is if you need to, give them more awareness of what's
happening. Okay, but let's say in a bit, that's okay when you're talking about a personal
relationships, but a lot of times in people who are listening, who are entrepreneurs and
business people, you'll have a choice. You have to deal with these people, right? So a lot of times
people become very defensive or like it's hard to get to be an effective communicator or get or
have a conversation when someone is not who lack the emotional intelligence so what would be a
tactic that you can use besides walking away you can't walk sometimes you can't walk away right
and i know you've said in the past the goal isn't to win the conversation because that just
root can actually make it even that's not the right thing either right because then
and that will actually sometimes disrupt the relationship later on.
Yeah, you don't want to set your sights on winning the argument.
Certainly not.
And it's, you know, that question covers a lot of scenarios.
I think there is a place to say, you know, you just need to put up your boundaries, right?
But I feel like that's kind of a cop-out answer.
There are certainly boundaries that are part of that.
If practically speaking, if you're in a conversation or you need to,
Let's say you're at work and you need to have something with somebody who's not emotionally intelligent
or really has the emotional capacity to have some of these deeper conversations.
It would tie to one, have the awareness first that this is not somebody you're going to be able to make a touchdown with.
They're not going to be able to go that far in the conversation.
So two, lower your standards of where you want to go in the conversations.
And probably lower your standards all around when it comes to how you're going to interact with this person.
Don't be surprised.
Don't get yourself disappointed that they're not.
doing something different. I mean, you can't change the tiger's stripes. Three, keep the conversations
really short. Short, to the point. Get in, get out. Don't feel like you have to lay all this huge
breadcrumbs into all this work in the conversation just for them to totally ignore it. I mean,
you can't, you know, you can't lead whatever animal to water. There is, there is so much
to those kind of conversations of realizing I'm not going to pour
my energy to it. I'm going to keep it short and sweet. I am not going to use words like you to get
them defensive. I'm not going to ask why that's going to get them defensive. I'm going to ask
questions that might enlighten me into their thinking. Those are the questions that open up discussion,
like how or when or what. Whenever I can open up discussion, maybe that's going to give me a little
bit more insight into the areas where they're static between us rather than a clear line of
communication.
Did you know Americans spend an average of 90% of their time indoors?
But do you also know that indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air?
Well, you can breathe easy with Air Doctor, the award-winning air purifier that eliminates 99.99% of
dangerous contaminants like allergens, viruses, smoke.
mold spores, gases, and so much more. Air Doctor was voted best air purifier by Newsweek. So it's no
surprise that 98% of Air Doctor customers agree. Their home air feels cleaner, safer, and
healthier. Unlike other purifiers, Air Doctor captures invisible particles a hundred times smaller
than standard hepa filters. So head to Air Doctorpro.com and use promo code Hustle
40 to get up to $300 off today.
And Air Doctor comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, plus a three-year warranty, an $84
value.
So get this exclusive podcast-only offer now at Airdrepro.com.
Use promo code Hustle 40.
What's the best way to communicate?
Kate, with confidence?
It's a language that is typically learned,
and that's the language of your assertive voice,
using a voice that's different than normal conversation.
Like if you and I are talking,
and we're talking about the weekend,
and we're friendly and we're friends, that's different.
But if I need to have an important conversation,
and maybe it's at work, typically at work,
then I'm going to use words that sound more confident,
and those are words that are assertive words.
like not having over apologies and saying, I'm sorry to everything, using adverbs, the words that end in L-Y, the using language that doesn't, you know, end with, does that make sense on every single sentence? Any of that kind of stuff is, and we can talk about each one of those, but that's what I mean by assertive voice. You are eliminating hesitancy in conversation, and instead you are building in words that produce positive momentum in the conversation.
where people will go, that person knows what they want, where they're going, and what they're talking
about. So give me an example. If you've ever responded to an email that says, hey, I'm so sorry,
I'm just now getting back to this. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I just not see this. So sorry for the delay.
You're apologizing for prioritizing your own life. You're apologizing for having priorities.
Like you have other emails to get to. You have life. You have kids. Instead of using apologies,
use words of gratitude. Thank you for your patience.
I appreciate the time to reply.
Thank you for giving me time to think about this.
And when you say, thank you for your patience, the other person will read it and go,
I am so patient.
Oh, my gosh.
I am so patient.
Yes, I am so kind.
What you're doing is you're taking away the hesitancy, which makes you feel less.
Because when they read that, I'm so sorry, what they think is, yeah, you should be sorry.
That's right.
Yeah.
And so you take that away and use words of gratitude, and now you're leaning into the communication.
Same thing for adverbs.
These are, to me, the biggest culprit of confident communication.
It's the words like essentially, basically, literally, really, very much so just, all of these words that don't really mean anything.
Like, let's say you need to, you want to propose an idea and you might say, okay, so basically what I'm like,
So just so you know, what I'm maybe thinking of, and it's really, really up to you guys,
but I literally just thought the other day, and you're going, you haven't said anything yet
because you've just thrown in a bunch of a fluff.
So when you remove those words, especially in emails or text, you just find you don't need them.
Like even the word just can be very much overused.
Just is very hesitant.
Hey, I just wanted to say hi.
Instead of, hey, I wanted to say hi.
like that kind of I'm leaning in just by using the word just I may it sound more hesitant
does that make sense is one that I like to talk about because when people use does that make
sense I know why they use it it's to want to make sure that what they said makes logical
practical sense but the other person here's it's either you don't know if they're smart enough
so you need to make sure that they can get it or two that you're not really sure what you're
talking about. So it's, does that make sense? Like, it's, it's that kind of, um, way of using it,
that it does, it becomes a crutch is what it is, because it's, it's very, it's, that's all it is,
as a crutch like anything else of using ums. Um, like I have a friend who would always say,
that's right after everything. It's just these little bitty fillers that that don't mean anything
and they're not hurtful in any way, but just in regular professional context, they may not sound all
that confident. Another little key thing for anybody is if you want to sound confident pretty
as quickly as possible, use the word confident. Use the word confident. If you were interviewing
me, Jennifer, and I, you asked a card question, and I went, yeah, I mean, I think so. I mean,
why not? I don't see any reason not to. Or you ask me this in question, and instead I said,
I'm confident I can do that
like which one are you think
is going to be the person
that you go you're going to write down
this person is so confident
that is confident
that's a good point
also I notice
this is actually not
I notice this a lot
the people who are the most
successful the top leaders
they're using less words
they're not they're not using these like
verbose they're not studying verbose
text verbose emails
it's very much what they need to say and they move on.
They keep it moving.
There's no like long, winded nonsense.
It could be because they don't have a lot of time.
But I also believe it's because they are a lot of times confident.
They're not trying to impress.
They're just trying to get what they need to say out and then they keep it moving.
That's a thousand percent.
People who are insecure have the need to say everything.
people who are confident have the need to say nothing.
They don't have to say it to know that they know it.
That's 100% true.
Yeah, what I like to say is when it comes to confidence in communication,
instead of being a waterfall, be a well.
Meaning instead of having to overflow, overshare, over-explain,
or they can't even contain it all.
You become a well, meaning if they have a question,
and you say, yeah, I know this.
Then you're confident in the depth of your knowledge,
meaning they can come get exactly what they need
and you're not overflowing it in some way.
It's a great way to kind of think
how much information you share with people around you
because there's a tendency to say way too much,
and that's very common.
Also, though, it's because I've noticed myself with you,
I've said, does it make sense twice?
Because you also are, people kind of respond to how the other person is, right?
And so for me, when someone's very slow to communicate, that it's like that empty space
or that, like, the quietness, you feel like you need to, like, fill it with something.
You know, it's like kind of psychological, right?
And we have to kind of get over that because you're right.
And I think when that, that is like, that, that symbolizes more power in the conversation, right?
Because I've noticed, because you're so, like, you're so, not stoic is the wrong word, but like I said, you're, you think before you answer.
So there's like a pause.
So the person may be a lot uncomfortable.
So I'm like, does it make sense?
Does it, Jefferson?
You know what I mean?
That's funny.
You haven't noticed.
Well, it was a good, no, there's a good, it's a good, it's a good, uh, case study.
What I tell people is instead of, does that make sense, it's the, what are your thoughts?
What do you think?
Because that's really why you're, that's really why you're asking.
Otherwise, it's super common.
I know, I know so many people who use it.
There's nothing wrong with it.
It just whatsoever.
It just happens that when you're in certain, if you want to sound, let's say, more assertive,
that's one way to do it.
No, I think it's great.
So you have kids, so do I.
I was wondering for kids, right, what would be one habit for them that you can instill
for kids to be a better communicator for when they become an adult?
Like what would be one thing that we can teach our kids so they come across like better
communicators where they can learn this for when they're older and also to help them now?
So I have a seven-year-old and a five-year-old and what I will often do is.
if they're in some kind of spat, you know, about who's touching me or who's, you know, has this toy
that my son now has that my daughter's demanding, even though she's acting like this toy never
existed for the last three years and she's never picked it up, is I will often take the moment
to time out and I will ask them what the other person is thinking. So I will, so let's say it's the
brother, I'll say, no, what do you, what do you think your sister thinks when you do that or you say
that and get him to think about it? I'll do the same thing for her. And I'll say, well, no, what do you,
when you, when you did that, what do you think your brother thinks? And so what I'm doing is getting
them outside of themselves to think of what things appear and sound like from the other person's
point of view. Part of a very good communicator is, understand,
not only your point and your argument,
but all the more understanding the other persons.
And so all I'm doing is just giving them awareness
to be able to read people and read the room
based on projecting out, if you say this,
what do you think how that person is going to respond?
So I like to do a lot of timeouts and asking
what if you, when you say that or when you did that,
that, how do you think she's going to feel? Or how do you think he's going to feel? And not in some
way where they can't, you know, they're supposed to always be worried about somebody else's emotion.
That's not it. It's teaching the not getting so tied up and thinking about me, me, me,
what I want, what I want. And what's almost always happened is I might say to him, you know,
what do you think sister feels when you do that? And he said, she probably feels upset. And I said,
will you want her upset? No. Well, how do you, what could you say, do you think that would make
her less upset? And almost every time he comes up with something better than I could think of,
and they immediately reconcile. And so it's trying to get them out of the, that kind of caveman
mentality of that's mine, this is yours, territorial kind of stuff that kids have.
I like that. I'm going to try that.
Now that you're doing all this, I'm imagining you're not practicing law anymore, right?
I still practice law.
I still have cases, still have clients.
You do?
Yes, and I just delegate a lot of stuff.
So I have other attorneys that are doing it because of just my time.
How do you spend most of your time now besides being in the car and doing video?
It's like, how much time does that?
How much time do you actually do that?
Like, how do you kind of adjust your days?
Um, it depends how much speaking I have that month.
Uh, so I travel and speak quite a bit. And how much?
For, I try to limit it to about two to three times a month, uh, bring the whole family
with me and it needs to line up with kids schedules and all that stuff. So we have a pretty
strong filter of what I say yes to and what I say no to. And then, um, you know, a lot of my day is
thinking of how I can develop more, either products or things that I can add more value to help more
people. The videos don't take that long. I mean, it's, the videos are either 30 seconds to a minute
in the car. And I, I, they're not written down anywhere. I think of them in my head and shoot them
typically in one to two takes and then it's gone, you know, trying to figure out what's going to be the
best it's you know right now i make decisions on what's based for the family not exactly what's
best for business and that that helps keeps me really grounded so are you writing a new book and
you have the book that you have is pretty good you know i mean there's a lot of information in there
and that can people can get to have better have better conversations right yeah so you're spending
sometimes you're basically do have a law firm still is that basically my question that's correct
Yes, I do.
Is there something besides, I have one other question that I kind of like went around and I forgot to kind of ask this and then I'll ask you something else.
But the defensive one.
Like how do we not become defensive?
Like there's been so many times I know that like I know that a fight's going to happen because of something that I, you know, I said something wrong or this person said something and they've said something to me that I, you know, or whatever.
And then you become defensive.
Like, how do you eliminate that feeling or how do you not respond defensively when that is your, like, gut?
And I know you're going to probably say pause.
But in the moment, if we're not in that moment when besides pausing, how else can we, how else can we deal with that type of thing?
Make sense?
Just kidding.
There's some phrases that I would encourage people to use.
If you don't want to be defensive in that moment,
and really get the other person defensive, then you have to use phrases that aren't going to put up
their walls. These are phrases like my favorite one, believe it or not, is I agree. That does not
mean I agree with what they said. I go bigger picture. I will say, well, I agree that's something to
consider. I agree that's a point of view. I agree that's a point of view. I agree that's a point.
I agree that's an issue. I agree that's something to talk about. Like these really high-end,
I'm not having to say, I agree with your position. I can say, well, I agree, that's definitely a take.
I agree that whatever. And see, they just hear the phrase, I agree, and go, oh, okay, who,
they could like put down all their swords. They were so ready to go into battle. And you just said,
I agree, that what they said matters.
Yeah.
And it kind of pulls down that defensiveness.
Another one that I like is telling them what's helpful.
Well, that's helpful to know.
Thank you for telling me.
That's helpful to know.
Whenever you say that, they feel like they have a mutual buy-in into their own understanding.
Like they've done their job teaching.
They've connected that this matters to them.
Another that I like, it's very much related to it, is what I've learned.
So I might say what I'm hearing or what I've learned is this is really important to you.
And they're going to go, yeah, it is really important to me.
And they're going to feel like you're right there with them instead of you going, why do you believe that?
Oh, okay.
Well, why in getting them all defensive?
That's a really good.
Using really, really intelligent questions that are going to pull down that defensiveness.
I love that.
And then we kind of circled around this idea of if it's not, if,
If the intention shouldn't be about winning an argument, what should the intent should be?
Like, when you're going into a difficult conversation and you don't want to, quote, unquote, win, then what is the outcome that you should be looking for?
Like in a negotiation or something like that?
Connection. Rather than trying to win the argument, I compare that to this tug-of-war that you have with somebody.
and that's a simplistic illustration, but what I like to teach is that when you try to win the
argument, you will lose the relationship. Who wants to be around the person who always has
to have the last word, who always has to be right? Do you want to be around the person who always
has to be right? No. Isn't that crazy? This person says that they're right, and I don't want to be
around them because it's what does that mean that means if there's something more than just being
right there's there's there's depth there's emotional depth to the conversation rather than just
who's right or wrong or the person who always has to throw in their two cents and always has to
have the last word you don't win anything you you win somebody's contempt you win their frustration
you win their eye rolls you win awkward silence when you see each other again
It's having to have the last word and the final say is something that's going to lose the relationship.
And in exchange, you lose their respect and ultimately the connection.
Have I forgotten to ask something that's super important that you talk about?
No, I honestly think you've covered just about everything.
Jennifer, yeah, I don't know if I have anything else.
Are you sure?
I feel like I'm forgetting some stuff that I had here.
Because I'm not worried.
That'll be our part too.
No, I think that...
You promised.
Because this is this virtual thing.
I asked because, like I said at the beginning, I didn't say it on this thing.
But like, and you could, you're the expert in communication.
How much actually gets lost when you do stuff like this?
Because now the world has come to this technology where people are doing virtuals and zooms and digital.
Like you can't, you miss the essence of having people.
people face-to-face to really get that connection. That's how you build connection, in my opinion.
Yeah, would I say how much is lost? I mean, all of the guests that I have on my podcast are
virtual. Really? Like, yeah, and the podcast is right. I mean, it's, yeah. And so it's what I like
to have people in person? Yeah. Why? Because that would make me feel better. It doesn't really change
the quality so much of the conversation. And, you know, does in-person do better maybe for
content, you know, for video? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I've seen lots of podcasts that
do great virtually, and I see lots of podcasts that do good in person. How much do you lose
with the Zoom stuff? It's not the same. That's no argument there. It's not the same.
there's still plenty of place and space for meaningful dialogue.
It doesn't bother me.
Well, I thank you so much for being a guest on this podcast, Jefferson.
Thank you for having me.
Oh, my gosh, you're the best.
Like I said, I was following you when you had like six followers.
I think you had like literally like a thousand, something like something so crazy.
And I would send you, like I said, I would send your videos like a lot of my friends.
And they're like, wow, he's so good.
And the next time I check on you, you're like a million.
And then you're like, four million.
I'm like, what's going on with this guy?
That's funny.
Well, thank you very much.
No, but you know what it is?
I think this says a lot about authenticity, right?
Because, you know, you seem like a really, like, nice person that's like, this is who you are.
You're very authentic.
You're not performative.
You're not doing something because you're trying to be a content creator or an influencer.
It's just like you're sharing valuable information that people can actually use to
improve some part of their life, which, by the way, like you said, communication improves every
area of your life. And you're providing that in such a real way that it's only natural that
people are going to gravitate to that. So I'm not surprised. Thank you very much. I appreciate
thank you. I appreciate that. Well, thanks for your time and having me on. And I wishing you all the
best. No, thank you. And I'm not allowing you off this podcast until you promise me that when you are
in California, that you will do it in person because I just think it, like, even if you
think they can't, whatever, I think it's a much better conversational exchange when you're
face-to-face. I think we can make it work. Yay. All right, Jefferson. I, I appreciate your time.
I appreciate you. And thanks for being on the podcast. Absolutely. Thank you. Take care.
Bye.
Thank you.
