I believe that nowadays it is really hard for us to communicate effectively with people, there are just too many distractions and we are focused in a lot of other things instead of listening the people that is close to us, family, friends, co-workers (etc), people that really cares for us.
So i believe that the most important key to communicate effectively is LISTEN, sometimes we think a lot about ourselves, what is concerning us, what we have in mind or if we are having success we want other people to know about the good things that are happening to us but one thing that we all need to learn for sure is LISTEN.
One thing that i have learned from past mistakes is that if you don't learn to listen then people will not want to spend time with you, basically talking about only yourself or about your achievements will make you look arrogant and very selfish.
My advice to you would be, learn to communicate effectively, learn to listen, learn to appreciate the people that is around you, learn to appreciate the things that are around you, learn to see the true beauty in the people, there is a lot of people with a lot of problems with confidence, self-esteem that need to be heard.
Communicate effectively, learn to LISTEN.