Here are four surefire ways to find out...before you
accidentally commit career suicide:
1. Everyone near you wears earbuds.
If everyone everywhere you look has earbuds stuffed into
their ears, or if they quickly jam them into their ears upon
your approach, sorry, bud, they’re trying to avoid you. Hey,
it could be worse. They could ruthlessly red light you.
To avoid being on the receiving end of embarrassing
passive-aggressive blow-offs like this, schedule time to talk
about specific work-related topics with your co-workers as
needed and stay on-topic. Save the smalltalk for the
breakroom and keep it brief. It shows respect for your
fellow officemates and their time...and, fingers crossed,
that you’re a recovering talkaholic.
Related: The 4 Biggest Productivity Killers in Your
Office
2. You do most of the talking.
If you find that you initiate conversations with your
coworkers most of the time -- c’mon, if you’re reading this
you probably do -- and if you dominate most of the
chitchats you start, chances are you blah, blah, blabbety-
blah too much.
If you don’t realize it, you’re not alone. Most people aren’t
aware that they talk too much, says Annie Stevens,
managing partner at ClearRock, a Boston-based executive
coaching firm. Her wise motto for workplace
communication is simple: “Be brief, be brilliant, be gone.”
Instead of Bogart-ing conversations, wait for coworkers to
kick off discussions with you from time to time and -- here
comes the hard part for verbal vomiters -- practice biting
your tongue while others talk. Don’t interrupt them, either.
Related: Travel Hacks: Quiet the In-Flight Talker
3. People look at their phones when you
talk.
Or at their watches or at their shoes or off in the distance.
You get the point, er, then again maybe you don’t. If a
person glazes over and looks like they’d rather be anywhere
but here listening to you ramble, it’s because they probably
would.
Take their dismissive body language as a hint and zip your
lip. If you need to tell them something urgent, email or IM
them. It’s going to be okay.
Related: How to Prevent Office Gossip From
Ruining Your Business
4. You can’t answer a question in a
sentence or two.
Someone asks you what time it is and you tell them about
the time someone told you the time that time you when you
asked them for the time on the train. You follow? Nope.
Neither did we. See? It’s annoying.
Be a pal and answer questions in a sentence or two, tops.
Stop, listen to the question and think about your answer
before opening up your mouth. You don’t have to blurt out
whatever pops into your head. If the person who asked you
the question has a follow-up question, then feel free to add
to your answer. If not, clam up and move on.
If you’re guilty of being that guy or that gal in the office, the
dreaded excessive talker, don’t despair and, please, don’t
go running to your nearest coworker to tell them all about
it. Talking too much at the office -- or anywhere -- is a bad
habit and thankfully one that can be broken. Like
unlearning any unwanted habitual behavior, it takes time,
impulse control, practice and plenty of it.
Say it with us now: Less talk

True.

talking less is d worst

interesting!