"In the Bucket"

Let me begin with an obvious statement: "Nobody wants to get beaned on the head with a baseball." Such an occurrence, particularly when thrown by a professional pitcher, can literally be fatal. Pitchers, in fact, count on this innate fear that batters bring with them to the plate. This is one big reason curve balls can be so effective. The pitcher throws the ball toward the batter's head but plans for it to curve down and over the plate just before reaching the batter. The trained batter, of course, usually recognizes a curve but nevertheless has seconds to decide whether the ball is actually going to curve or, instead, keep going toward his head. A wrong choice could either mean a missed pitch or getting beaned.

Those times when the batter steps away, it is called "stepping into the bucket." While we all understand self-preservation, the hard-truth is stepping into the bucket is a bad habit for any batter to get into. This is because it makes them highly vulnerable to any pitcher with a good curve ball. Nevertheless, it is one weakness many batters share and one that is hard to break. As is the case with hitting a baseball, communicating carries with it a number of bad habits as well. These include talking over the person with whom you are interacting, not listening, not trying to share thoughts in ways that others can more easily understand, and not giving others a chance to talk at all.

Granted, these communication bad habits can and do much to stifle and, at times, even kill conversations or meaningful interacting. Like stepping into the bucket, they can also be difficult habits to break.  Often people enter into a conversation with the intent of sharing their thoughts or perspectives. They want to be heard and understood and, consequently, place little value on hearing what others might have to say. The irony here is that such a mind-set also takes away from the initial goal of being heard. Those on the receiving end sense they are not being listened to and often either give-up on a conversation or try to talk-over the person who is talking-over them.