Know your purpose or goals

When you know exactly what you want to say, communicating clearly is much easier. In the past, you must have had the urge to say, “So, what’s your point?” — usually with an exasperated tone. More often than not, a person who is asked that question looks surprised and fumbles for a good, onesentence answer. When the speaker doesn’t know the point, the listener is hopelessly lost.
In any communication, you should know the point and be keenly aware of the overall purpose or goal. Simply saying, “Oh, I just like to talk” is okay for recreational situations. But if you’re trying to get someone else to provide some action, approval, or acquiescence (that is, if you are in a negotiation), you need to have your short- and long-range goals in mind.