Communication Goal

As part of communication class we were asked to choose one aspect of our communication that we would like to focus and improve on throughout this class. My goal is to improve my clarity and organization in my verbal communication. I have noticed that my thoughts are very unorganized which comes out in my speech. I have the tendency to not think my thoughts through before I speak them. I like to refer to it as my filter needing to be replaced! This can and does affect how clearly I communicate my opinions, thoughts or answers. This leads to misunderstandings and even offending others.
In 4-5 more days my husband is coming home on leave from Iraq. It has been eight months since I have seen him, our communication has been limited to phone calls, text messages, instant messaging and e-mail. None of those have given us the opportunity to have long conversations. We have had to keep our communication to talking about the day to day things such as bills, home and a thousand I love you and I miss you phrases. Having him come home presents the perfect opportunity to work on my goal. I think having good communication will help us to have the best two weeks possible. Having as much time apart as we have, I am sure it has affected our ability to communicate efficiently. I do not want us to spend any of the time fighting because either of us misunderstood something the other was trying to communicate.
I will be making an effort to slow down and think before giving my opinions and suggestions. To evaluate how my words may be mistaken for something different than what I was trying to communicate. I am thankful that I will start working on this goal with my husband, he can give me feedback on how clearly I am communicating. I will be asking him to describe what he heard or understood.
I am very excited to utilize all the new ideas and skills I have learned in communication class in communicating with the hubby and supporting my personal communication goal!