So your meeting is about to finish, you can tell the person speaking to you briefing you talking to you. It's pretty much said everything they want. There may come a point when the person says to. Okay, you got it. Any questions? Don't try to be Mr. Mrs. smarty pants.

Oh, nope, I got it all. No questions. Now, now's the time to try to summarize, let's make sure you actually got it. And this is the perfect time to glance down at your notes. Look at your notes. Look back at the person.

You can just say, if I'm understanding you correctly, what you really want me to do is Boom, boom, boom. Now you've got a couple of options here. What could happen let's say you got something wrong. Now you're not spending the next three weeks on some project that was not the focus of what your boss or client wanted. It can be corrected right away. And typically someone speaking to me is happy to put you right on the The best track and to correct you, they appreciate the fact that you really listen that you took notes that you're trying to get it and you needed a little bit, of course correction, a calibration.

So there's no damage done in the eyes of the person speaking to you, in fact, you're respectful respect will go up in their eyes because you were trying so hard to get it and they're able to help you more or even mentor you more in some office situation. So that's great. On the other hand, if you're getting what it is they're talking about, and you're throwing back to them. The summary that's exactly what they wanted you to get, especially if you use some of their words, and it's clear that you understand them and you're not just using buzzwords, they're gonna think you're a genius, they're gonna think Finally, I've got an employee here a vendor consultant who actually gets it, who actually listens to me. So many people in life feel like nobody listens to them. And when you can summarize what somebody says, and not just a sentence or two, but in a descriptive way, it's very powerful.

You have to use your judgment. Of course, if the meeting is running way over and it's after six on a Friday, now's not the time to spend seven minutes summarizing the previous half hour presentation or meeting or briefing, but certainly you could spend 30 seconds on it, if it's not a rush situation, and it's an incredibly important present. If your boss just talked to you for two hours about a whole new strategic shift. And it's 11 in the morning. I certainly might want to spend five minutes summarizing my notes to the boss to make sure that I got it. Exactly.

So summary is fantastic because it further cements the ideas in your head. had, you know you're going to be doing it, it forces you to listen more actively. It's a chance to correct anything you got wrong. At no penalty. Imagine in college, you could just give out your answers and say, Is this the right answer? And the teacher says no, that's the answer.

Well, you'd make an A on every test. You got to look at it this way. This is a way to get an A on every test. You just ask the person speaking to you the role of the teacher in this case, are you getting the right answers and they'll tell you whether you are or not. Either way, they're going to like it. And they're gonna like the fact that you're trying hard, and especially if you get it.

As I mentioned, if you tell them exactly the message they were expecting using some of their words, they're gonna think you're a genius, and you'll be in great shape. So don't forget in business communication, summarize again, Pretty much anytime unless you have severe time constraints.