"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."
Don’t you find it amazing how once you notice something, it seems to show up everywhere in your life? Well, that seems always to be the case for me. Once I tune in to anything, it shows up everywhere—the latest, the concept of conscious listening (or the lack of it thereof).
I hop into my email and lo and behold, seemingly jumping out at me was an email from TED.com with the subject line “5 ways to LISTEN BETTER”. You gotta love it!
I recommend you watch the video below that was referenced in that email. I believe it’s well worth your 7 minutes and 50 seconds of time! There is one particular concept that the thought leader Julian Treasure mentions that really sparked deep thought for me. It’s that conscious listening creates understanding. Powerful statement… don’t you agree?
So take a look at the video below. Heed its advice. Get in a quiet place for a few minutes and ask yourself some serious questions such as:
- Are you consciously listening to your clients? Are you sure?
- How about your target market? What’s important to them? What messages and/or signals are they putting out there that maybe you haven’t picked up on yet?
- How else can you increase your level of conscious listening?
It is my belief that your results directly reflect your degree of conscious listening… after all, effective communication is a two-way street.
Thanks for sharing. “Listen Consciously to Live Fully” Love it!
Yes Laurinda that’s a pretty powerful message isn’t it?! It’s one we can’t hear enough… help spread the word.
What a great video and post, Dean. Thanks for sharing it.
As a life coach, it is my job to consciously listen. Seems like that should be easy considering we have two ears and the natural ability to process speech, but hearing is not conscious listening.
While I agree that we live in a multi-tasking, fast-paced world, I disagree with the idea that the world has changed. The world remains the same; we have changed. We have turned our world into “social media” and are consumed with our cell phones, texting, and emailing.
Not only do I consciously listen, I consciously watch people. What I see is people barely completing one call before going on to the next as well as fingers moving frantically across micro/macro keyboards in order to send messages along as quickly as possible. Even when speaking directly, often the listener is not fully engaged but waiting to get their point across or appearing to be distracted by some “mind chatter” from within. Where is the processing time; the time to reflect on what is being said and to understand the true meaning that often is hidden behind the words?
I teach my clients to meditate, which is just another way of saying become quiet. In that quiet one can hear the exquisite sound of silence–a sound that soothes the mind and comforts the soul.
Conscious listening not only helps us communicate and relate better with our business clients, our family and friends, but more importantly, it opens a gateway that allows our Higher Power to reveal inner understanding and wisdom to us.
Great points Jean! Yes a big part (in my opinion) of why listening skills have dwindled is because of the amount of “voices” coming at us… all vying for our immediate attention. Whether it be from any of the sources you’ve indicated as well as many others, it’s at an epidemic proportion. Becoming silent (or as you put it, meditating) I absolutely agree is an excellent way to get centered and enable yourself to participate in conscious listening. Any suggestions for newbies to get quiet and focused?
Dean
Great post!! Thanks Dean! I loved the idea of teaching listening in school. With all the bombardment of media around us I think we really need to relearn how we listen. I like his idea to sit in silence for 3 minutes a day to reset.
Hey Bill… yes teaching listening in school (in my opinion) is significantly lacking… especially in our cluttered world! Sitting in silence for 3 minutes a day is definitely a great start at resetting (and centering) yourself… question is will the average business person do it? Will you commit to do it?