FATHER’S DAY
I can still hear my father saying those words many times before he died some years ago. My father was full of wit and wisdom and never held back if you asked him a direct question.
How many times have we been at a gathering, social or business and we meet someone who we find so interesting to talk to for hours, it seemed. How much we enjoyed the conversation. Suddenly, we realize we did most of the talking and they just listened.
Listening is a skill, and as with other skills you have to practice and practice and practice. However, as we practice and use this “listening muscle” magical things will happen in our lives, like our children and grandchildren will want to communicate more often, our team members will become more productive, and our clients will call and refer more and more.
Most of all, as we open our ears and “tune in” to whomever, it is amazing what we can learn from others. Remember the second time you heard some sentence or story and thought to yourself, “that never resonated with me the first time I heard it.”
We can and should start using our “listening muscles” today.