Quality of life. We all strive for it. We plan for it. After 35 years of seeing patients as a psychologist, I have decided that there is one central factor that is germane to your quality of life. With it, doors will open, people will feel connected to you, relationships will flourish, and life will have more meaning. Without it, you become more isolated, less happy and influential.

Your ability to communicate is the key to your quality of life.

In part one of this series we examined the four traits are needed to be a great communicator. They are:

1. You need to be able to access you innermost thoughts and feelings.

2. You need to be able to identify and verbalize these thoughts and feelings.

3. You have to be able to accurately understand what another person is saying.

4. You need to be able to make conversations as personal as possible.

Now I'm going to give you a concrete plan for realizing these traits.

I want you to simply have one hour a day that you give to becoming a first-class communicator. One hour a day for 70 days. Are you willing to do that? If you're willing to do this, then here are some ideas about how you can accomplish some things that will make you a great communicator.

1. Go out today and buy yourself a journal. Right now. It needs to have a lot of pages in it. I carry a journal around with me all the time. I have one right now. It has about three, four hundred pages in it, and I want you to buy a journal like that.