To Listen or talk, that is the question…..

If you are really honest with yourself, what would you rather do, talk or listen?

Mine is talking. I want to talk and would prefer if everyone else would listen and even better if they agree with everything I say!

Right?.........”Rolling your eyes yet”?

I think this is probably true of most of us, so this presents a problem. We all want to talk, so who is going to listen?

Daily I experience this in my shop. A customer really wants to talk and they just want someone to listen. They usually don’t even want feedback as much as they just want to talk and feel that someone is actually interested, cares and is truly listening.

Honestly, this gets HARD, this listening thing!

But I just realized as my sweet customer just left after talking, and talking and talking some more, which I had to really focus and train my brain to just stop for a moment and listen.

I mean, even if we have to think of this as a gift that we are giving someone, whatever feeds our ego. But, we really need to practice the discipline of talking less and actually listening more.

It feels good when someone truly, honestly listens to you. So, I encourage us to practice this discipline today. Wrap it up in a box with a bow if you must, but give this gift today. The gift of caring enough to look someone in the eyes, engage and actually stop and listen to them.

Do this with self-less motivation and you may be surprised at the gift that you get back in return! Happy Monday!