Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

People use one set of postures for thinking. There are another set of postures that make it easy for other people to hear what you are saying when you are talking. Please try to switch postures when thinking and then talking. This request is especially strong when in meeting with other people.

I sat in a meeting this week. No, this isn’t about unproductive, waste-of-time meetings. We accomplished much in this meeting. We had a number of questions before us, we talked, there was much contemplation, and we decided what to do next. Good meeting.

I noticed something about people thinking. There are a few postures or body positions that people around a table assume when thinking. Some are:

• scratching chin
• biting finger nails
• scratching nose
• resting chin on fist
• rubbing eyes and face

After thinking, people would describe their thoughts, i.e., they would talk a while. There are a few postures that are good for speaking in a manner that is easily heard by others. Some are:

• nothing in front of your face
• nothing touching your face
• neck straight
• head up

Notice that there is no intersection between the two lists of postures. In almost all cases,

the thinking posture is terrible talking posture.

Something else I noticed in the meeting,

people in deep thought usually don’t change posture before talking

In fact, they usually stay in the thinking posture while talking. Ouch, that makes it difficult for everyone else to understand. Hence, the next time you follow a period of deep thought with some description of your thoughts,

please try to switch postures.