Have you ever tried listening to someone who is annoying you? Have you ever tried going a whole day without giving your opinion, not even once? If you’re an introvert, this may be easier for you. But for outgoing people, this is a big problem.
And, by the way, it can be a problem for all of us. Most of us love to hear ourselves talk. We love to tell our side of the argument, our thoughts on other people’s lives etc. That’s why people love stories. It satisfies the need we humans have to know about others and compare ourselves to the them.
But the truth is WE CAN’T LEARN IF WE ARE TALKING.
Put a sock in it. The more important the relationship, the more we need to work on listening. Try it and let me know how the experiment works for you. I’ll let you know how I’m doing.
(By the way, if you have a job interview and the question comes about areas of self- improvement; a statement about the sincere desire to improve one’s listening skills for both personal and professional reasons can work. Just be prepared to talk about what you are doing to improve and make sure you are really practicing!)
Carl Hoffman
March 14, 2014This is a tough one for someone who made a living by speaking. But I am learning to not only listen but also to see since I have started painting. I am in the most exciting part of my life. I sleep well, I wake up happy and I have much to accomplish. The biggest mistake I made in life was to take myself too seriously. When you do that you have a tendency not to listen. I want to thank you for your blog. It is helpful. I also want to thank those who use new media for opening my eyes to something with potential. This link is to a small channel of a video I made that did not pass my wife’s approval because it did not fit the mission of my channel. I hope you enjoy it because it is positive review about someone you love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZfOwuaHeXw