We’ve all heard the clichés about talk being cheap, all talk and no action, if you haven’t got anything useful to say…

Children often get told off for talking too much, but rarely for talking too little (with the exception perhaps of teenagers).

But I maintain it’s good to talk. My husband would say it’s because I’m a woman, but here are three of my reasons:

Overcoming fears

When we’re afraid, we often try to shut the door on our fears, pretend
they don’t exist. When we talk about our fears, we bring it out into
the cold light of day, and become more familiar with them without
shadows playing on our imagination. After all, the thing that scares
you is rarely as scary as the fear itself.

And as we get to know them, and get used to talking about them, they gradually become easier and more comfortable to handle.

More people on your side

One of the ways I promote my business is through networking, and in the
minute we each get to stand up and talk about our businesses, we’re
encouraged to be specific about what we need to help us – a contact in
a specific organisation, for example. It’s amazing how often the jungle
drums will work away and provide exactly what you’ve asked for. When we
take the opportunity of one-to-one meetings to talk in more depth, we
learn so much more about each other, create possibilities, share
inspirations and discover natural partnerships.

Stimulating action

Things have a funny way of happening when we start talking about them.
Countless campaigns, organisations and businesses have started from a
little seed sown and nurtured by talking. To give a personal example, I
recently spent about 30 seconds talking to our church pastor and
mentioned that I’ve never got round to getting baptised, and the next
thing I knew, I found myself on his ‘upcoming baptisms’ list. The next
time I spoke to him I had a date, and all of a sudden, after more than
a decade of not getting round to it, it looks like it’s going to happen
at the end of next month.

So, what’s been playing on your mind recently – a fear, a problem or an
idea? Talk about it with someone and see what happens. Or share it in a
comment below.