The One Sentence Rule, by @grudevaa

By Annie Grudeva

"Practice responding to any question in a single thoughtful sentence. This will require some effort. Compose your response carefully before speaking, instead of thinking aloud and rambling on. Then pause, and wait for a response. If your conversation partner is interested in what you have to say, they will dig deeper and ask questions. If they don’t, this is a clue that you shouldn’t continue talking"

Hi, uhm, my name is Annie and I'm a compulsive talker. You see, when I'm nervous I tend to talk too much; you could say silence scares me.

But silence is vital for our existence - it is the space where a thought is formed. When you hit a wall during the creative process, after all the emotions of hopelessness and frustration have went away there is damning silence.

As the 'always-on' generation we have grown to hate silence - both outside of us and in our own heads.

But if you look back to your childhood, boredom is what made us do stupid stuff and eventually made some of the greatest stories and friendships.

So recently I decided to to shut up, turn off my phone, close my laptop and embrace listening and being in the present.

You would not believe the things I've heard since then : )