3 Communication Mistakes That Are Making You Lose Control

If you’ve ever felt like a conversation got away from you, you’re not alone—we all lose control sometimes. In this episode, I’m breaking down the three biggest mistakes that cause you to give up your power without even realizing it: overexplaining, reacting too quickly, and filling every silence. I’ll show you how each of these makes you predictable and weakens your message, and I’ll give you the tools to stay calm, confident, and in control no matter who you’re talking to. Thank you to our sponsors: Cozy Earth. Upgrade Your Every Day. Get 40% off at cozyearth.com/jefferson or use code JEFFERSON at check out. Masa Chips. Get 25% off at https://www.masachips.com/pages/jefferson BetterHelp. Click https://betterhelp.com/jeffersonfisher for a discount on your first month of therapy. Order my new book, The Next Conversation, or listen to the full audiobook today. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show! Want a FREE communication tip each week? Click here to join my newsletter. Join My School of Communication Watch my podcast on YouTube Follow me on Instagram Follow me on TikTok Follow me on LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Life is all about making decisions. Sometimes you make questionable ones, like buying a new TV that's too big for the wall because the electronics store employee was a little too good at their job. Then sometimes you make great ones, like protecting your home and auto with Progressive. You get customized coverage options so you can be sure you have the right coverage. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states.

• 0:30Jefferson Fisher?

  Being emotional makes you predictable. When you have these big overreactions in conversation, you are showing the other person where the buttons to your remote control are. Today, we're going to be talking about the top three communication mistakes that are causing you to lose control. Ready? Let's go. Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher Podcast, where I'm on a mission to make your next conversation the one that changes everything. If you enjoy learning tools to improve your communication, I'm going to ask you to please find the button that says subscribe wherever you're listening and click it. It's not a forever thing, but what it does is it tells wherever you're listening that this is good content. So my promise to you is that if you listen to these episodes and you subscribe, I'm going to make you a better communicator. And that's my promise.

• 1:15Jefferson Fisher?

  Today's podcast is sponsored by Cozy Earth. One of the favorite things that I like about Cozy Earth is because I have now arrived at the age where I appreciate good quality towels, like just towels. When you get out of the shower and you just need something that feels good, you really know the quality and the difference, and it matters. And not only are Cozy Earth's clothes great and their bed sheets are great, their towels are amazing. They have regular bath towels and they have these what they call bath sheets. They're huge. They're like as tall as I am, and I can't get enough of them. They're fantastic. So you need to give them a try, I promise. Go to cozyearth.com/jefferson, use the code Jefferson for 40% off. That's cozyearth.com/jefferson, use the code Jefferson for 40% off.

• 2:00Jefferson Fisher?

  You will not regret it. And now, back to the episode. Losing control is not a them problem. By that, I mean, we are also very capable of losing control. And if you're one of those people, just nod to yourself. Yep, I can, I can lose control. I've known for my temper to be off the handle. Maybe you're saying that to yourself right now, or you're thinking of an argument where you've lost your cool. And it happens. All right? You can be the best. Spouse in the world, you can be the best friend in the world, you can be the best parent in the world, and we all have times where we lose control. Today specifically, I'm going to talk about these times in conversation and arguments

• 2:44Jefferson Fisher?

  where you feel like you're starting to lose grip on control. Again, we all do it. It can depend on the context, the environment, the people, what triggers you, what topic it is. We're going to dive deep real quick on conversations themselves. So number one, what I want you to focus on that's causing you to lose control is over explaining. Ever heard of that? I bet so. Over explaining, over justifying. When you feel like you're having to say too much in the conversation. I'm going to leave with that point because often our gut is to say more. We want to say everything. We want to over explain.

• 3:27Jefferson Fisher?

  We want to, it's like hammering in a nail to where it's flat against the wood and then you just keep beating it for no reason. You've made the point, but yet you're not, you're not regulated enough to stop and realize you've made your point. Now you're just losing control. You're having this big emotional reaction that's getting the best of you, that's causing you, causing you to be dysregulated. And then everything is going to fall apart from there. So one of the biggest parts of stopping yourself from over explaining or feeling the need to over justify everything is that it typically comes from this inner belief that they're not going to believe you.

• 4:09Jefferson Fisher?

  This inner belief that you can't trust yourself to be understood. And I'm, I'm wanting to go there for a minute because that's a, that's an inner belief. It's an inner belief that you feel like, maybe I don't trust that people understand me, or I want people to believe that I know what I'm talking about. Because I can't trust that I'm confident enough in what I'm saying. So I feel like I have to over explain. I have to say too much. I have to make sure they know how much I know. So that I can prove to them that I'm worthy and I'm worth something. When you do that, when you over explain, over justify,

• 4:54Jefferson Fisher?

  it often causes you to lose control of the conversation. It's spreading yourself too thin. Right? You want, in conversation, particularly ones that are, where you feel like you need to have a, like a gymnastics, I'm thinking of when they do the flips on the bars and they want to land without making any movement, you know, they don't want to step up, make a step. They just make an impact and stick. When you want that to happen, you have to have a very strong argument and stick to it. Stick to it. When you continue to bring up other points and counterpoints, and kind of have this shotgun scatter approach to your conversation,

• 5:38Jefferson Fisher?

  it actually, it lessens the concentration of the impact you're going to make, as well as, I guess you could say, the concentration of the other person. It's going to be harder for them to understand you and the message gets lost. So if you want to have more control in an argument, it doesn't matter if it's at the kitchen table or in the boardroom. You have to make sure that you're not over explaining because it is diluting, diluting your message. So stick with just one point and have faith in that and trust in that. To say that what I'm going to say can be short and concise and end in a period without a bunch of ellipses that could just continue on and on and on in a run on sentence. It's where now I've lost my audience.

• 6:23Jefferson Fisher?

  Now I've, I've lost the listener. Now I don't feel confident. Now I feel like I've lost control because I'm starting to say too much and I feel like I always have to justify everything. That is a very quick way for you to lose control. So mistake number one, over explaining and over justifying. Point number two, reacting emotionally.

• 6:45Jefferson Fisher?

  Instead of pausing first, I've said this once, I'm gonna keep saying it probably for the rest of my life, your breath, what you're doing right now without even thinking of it, just right now, me saying that, I bet you're starting to think about your breath right now. You actually, I said, whoa, I just took a breath, didn't I? Yeah, you're catching yourself. Yes, you're a human and your heart's still beating and you're moving and you're blinking and thinking and listening to me all at the same time. Your breath has such a big impact on your mood and your emotional regulation and your ability to ground yourself. If you do not ground yourself, you will not be in control. I want you to think of a time right

• 7:26Jefferson Fisher?

  now where you've been upset, like really upset what somebody's done. And when you started addressing it with them, most likely you came out of the gate, if you didn't think about the conversation ahead of time, you came out of the gate really strong. I've had that before where you get so worked up and upset and the first time you have, the gate opens and you have a reaction and maybe you're yelling, maybe you're saying something that's way too harsh and you're probably talking really quickly because your body's just reacting in that moment. Taking a pause allows you to regain control. I talk about that, I talk about this a lot in my book, The Next Conversation. There's a whole section on say it with control.

• 8:10Jefferson Fisher?

  All right. And there's several chapters in that where we dive deep into taking a breath, a conversational breath, a physiological breath. And well, let's do it right now in case you haven't heard this from me before. And even if you have, it's good to do, good for me too. You ready? This is a conversational breath. So what you're gonna do, we're gonna do about three seconds in through the nose, one more at the top, and then out through your nose.

• 8:41Jefferson Fisher?

  Now, what you're going to find by doing that is you're going to sense a little bit of tension just being released. The more you do it, the more power, more control you're going to feel of yourself and in the conversation because you are regulated. Your prefrontal cortex is staying engaged. You're not being emotionally flooded. Because when you are emotionally flooded and you're completely emotionally wrapped into the argument, not only do you lose control, but it makes you predictable. So very predictable. Because the other person knows right at the very outset where your trigger is.

• 9:24Jefferson Fisher?

  And it's like when you have that reaction, you're not only showing them the button, you're spit shining it. You're making it shiny for them and putting it right out in front to say, "Yeah, if you just go ahead. If you want more control in this argument, just go ahead and push my button, please." It makes you predictable. You know these people in your life that have, let's say, a temper problem, or they lack some sense of emotional maturity. And you know, if you bring up one thing, or you talk about a certain thing, they will absolutely fly off the handle. Now, I'm not talking about things that you need to put a boundary up, and these are things that, these are triggers, actual trauma triggers for you. I'm not talking about that.

• 10:06Jefferson Fisher?

  I'm talking just everyday things that somebody just loses their cool. When you are big time overly emotional, it shows that you lack control.

• 10:17Jefferson Fisher?

  It shows that you lack the emotional depth to be able to hold space for, to be able to contain it. It means you don't have a very deep well to hold these things. Everything is very much at the surface. It doesn't have anywhere to sink or grow. So when you feel like you're losing control, or you're afraid you're going to lose control, what I want you to do is take that breath. It's going to allow you to pause. There is so much power in a pause. I've spoken about this a lot. Again, I will always talk about this because it never gets old. When you pause before you respond, you maintain control versus allowing yourself to get flooded and have a big emotional overreaction

• 11:01Jefferson Fisher?

  that is just giving away your power to the other person. All right? Now, before we keep going, I have to admit, I am a snacker. I like my snacks. And sometimes, you know, you're just in the mood for something crunchy. Just nothing else is gonna do it. It just has to be crunchy and salty. Well, I have come across masa chips. A few months ago, I got some of these chips. I started eating a bag. This is probably three weeks ago. And then I had to go off and run to the store. I came back, they were gone. I'm talking empty bag and my wife and kids were already into the second bag. What makes masa chips so great is that instead of using seed oils, they use beef tallow. And it's really old school approach and the chips just taste good and you feel better.

• 11:46Jefferson Fisher?

  You feel like you actually ate a snack, not just a big bag of salt and grease where you're regretting your life decisions. So I'm a big fan of them and I can't stop eating them. They're delicious. Masa Chips is beloved by tens of thousands of customers and is endorsed by industry-leading health and nutrition experts. If you're ready to give masa chips a try, go to masachips.com/jefferson, use the code Jefferson for 25% off your first order. That's masachips.com/jefferson, use the code Jefferson for 25% off your first order. Try them. I promise you will thank me later. And now, back to the episode.

• 12:25Jefferson Fisher?

  And number three, you lose control when you feel the silence rather than waiting for the other person. Be comfortable with silence. Have you ever been in an interview? This happens a lot. It certainly happens a lot for me in depositions, when I'm taking depositions of witnesses and parties. And I might pause after somebody responds to me, answers one of my questions, and I just wait. And you know what happens nine times out of 10?

• 12:55Jefferson Fisher?

  They keep talking. They don't like the silence. They're not comfortable with it. So they keep giving me an answer, assuming that what they said wasn't enough. And I've had it a lot where they start telling me stuff that's better than what they originally told me. So their second answer that they are saying unprompted was, was more information than what they originally had. And I didn't have to do anything. Or like an interview, maybe where somebody asks you an interview question and you respond and they don't say anything right away. So you feel like, oh, I guess I didn't say enough. So I gotta keep talking. Stop. Don't, don't feel the silence.

• 13:36Jefferson Fisher?

  Understand that if they have a question, they have the agency and the power to ask. And if they're not happy with your answer, you know what they can do? They can ask a question for more information, to clarify, to have a different answer. They can do that within their ability. It is not on you to continue to fill every silence. Be comfortable with that. When you fill every silence, if you plug every hole, it's giving away your power. It's just, it's, it's leaking out because you're not being confident in what you said. Like we talked about with the over explaining and justifying, just use a period, not the ellipses.

• 14:20Jefferson Fisher?

  You don't have to fill every hole. When you get comfortable with silence.

• 14:27Jefferson Fisher?

  See what I did? Don't worry. Your, your music player is doing fine. That was, that was a dramatic pause. Whenever you are comfortable with silence, there is a strength in you that happens.

• 14:43Jefferson Fisher?

  So I want you to practice, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. When you're on the phone with somebody, I want you just to, let's do it both ways. One, I want you to see how silence works. I want you to, whenever you're talking to a friend, maybe, just pause in your sentence for three seconds. And it could be as simple as this, as if you're just talking to a friend and you said, yeah, you know what? I really had a good day. And you know what I was thinking about?

• 15:12Jefferson Fisher?

  I was thinking about what was important in my life. That's an example. Three seconds, easy. And you see how that pause made it feel so much different?

• 15:22Jefferson Fisher?

  Second of all, when somebody else is talking to you and they give a pause in the conversation, wait. Wait three to five seconds. See if they have anything more to say. But don't put it on yourself, your responsibility to continue to carry that that conversation. Silence serves a purpose. And whenever you don't allow that to happen, not only are you cutting off the chance for connection, the chance for more information that you had otherwise, you're cutting off your ability to conserve your power and conserve your control in that conversation. Today, I like today's episode.

• 16:06Jefferson Fisher?

  Today's all about maintaining control, making sure you don't lose your control. The top three communication mistakes that are causing you to lose control. Number one, we talked about how over explaining and justifying starts to dilute your message rather than having a concentrated argument that you're going to stay on point and being confident in that rather than spreading yourself thin. Number two, we talked about not having the overreaction where you're showing everybody your button and every time you react, you're making yourself what? Predictable. And that can harm you and lose your control. And number three, at the end of the day, silence is positive. Silence is something that says more than anything our words can ever say. And don't feel like you have to feel the silence.

• 16:49Jefferson Fisher?

  If you don't want to lose your control, be comfortable with silence, use it, and don't feel like it's a negative thing that you have to step in front of. Get comfortable with it. All right, I hope you have a great day. As always, you can try that and follow me.

• 17:06Speaker 00

  Life is all about making decisions. Sometimes you make questionable ones, like buying a new TV that's too big for the wall because the electronics store employee was a little too good at their job. Then sometimes you make great ones, like protecting your home and auto with Progressive. You get customized coverage options so you can be sure you have the right coverage. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states.