Polish your communication style: Record conversations on your smartphone

Have you ever had the experience of being unknowingly recorded? Many people find it downright horrifying the first time they watch or hear a recording of themselves.

The Problem: A lot of us have unattractive (or just plain sloppy) body language or auditory communication habits that we aren't aware of. These habits hold us back from becoming the best versions of ourselves.

Unless you have the time, money, or inclination to take acting classes or a social dynamics boot camp it's pretty difficult to identify weaknesses that could be doing damage to your communication 'game', be it in personal or business situations.

The Solution:

Hint-It's probably in your pocket right now. There are several very good (and very free!) apps you can download on your iPhone or Android for recording and replaying your in-person conversations.

• Miidio Recorder for Android
• Audio Memos for iPhone
• Evernote for All Smartphones

How To:

Next time you are having a not-boring conversation in person with someone, nonchalantly pull out your smartphone (as people do frequently in conversation, nowadays). Launch the app and begin recording the conversation, if you have the Evernote widget installed it literally takes about three seconds to open a voice note recording the conversation. Place your phone on the table in between you and your friend. At first, you may feel a little weird since the other person won't know the conversation is being recorded. I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure that provided you aren't using a live recording for commercial purposes, this is completely legal.

The Purpose:

Is just to find out how you sound to other people in conversations. At the end of the day go back and listen to the recordings.

You may be shocked at what you hear! Here are a few weak areas I identified in my own conversational skills.

• I say 'So...' way too much!
• Sometimes my voice goes up at the end of a statement as opposed to down. This makes me sound uncertain of what I'm saying occasionally.
• I use a lot of creative expressions to introduce things I'm going to talk about but frequently I will mumble or not say the expression completely before jumping into the explanation or main topic. People will probably appreciate my creative expressions more if I don't rush through them.

In professional and personal situations life hackers can benefit significantly from recording and auditing our conversations. Try it today!

To galvanize your networking gravitas, check out Social Dynamics Secrets of Elite Socialites, a chapter in my lifehacking manifesto...