Listen to love, knowledge and success.

Have you noticed that there are people who talk, talk and talk and never want to listen?

Some people like to hear their own voice. Some do not have sufficient opportunities to talk. Some think they know more than you. So, when they have the opportunity, they would talk non-stop. They pour out their knowledge. They hardly put in. Their glass of knowledge and understanding take a long time to fill.

I do talk but not much. Sometimes, I listen more. I listen even more if I come across someone who knows many things. I encourage him or her to talk with questions to extract even more experience and information. I learned to do that when I was young.

In one previous posting, I have told about my ‘dumbness’ and introvert character when I was young. In my dumbness, I had no alternative but to listen. I discovered that people are encouraged to talk when they have an interested listener.

Later, Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale confirmed my discovery. Alas, from them I also realized the idea was already a century old! I was no great thinker after all. Nevertheless, this average guy did benefit from it, making friends very easily and learning a lot as a result. Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale did help by getting this big-headed fellow to be more humble and encouraged me on the right path of listening more to those more knowledgeable than me.

When we are good listeners, we learn a lot through the experience of others. It is one of the better ways to learn as it would have taken us more than one life-time to learn so many things.

Besides learning, it is easier for people to like those who pay attention. Giving attention is an indication of respect for the speaker and interest in whatever is communicated. That is one of the best secrets to becoming popular!

This liking for the listener has been exploited by salemen. A salesman or anyone who listens carefully to his/her client will find the client more receptive to what he/she has to say.

How do we teach our children to learn to be good listeners? First, we can be models. We ourselves must be good listeners. We must listen to our children and understand them well. Our children will imitate. Next explain to them that through listening to somebody, we can learn to do a particular thing well. Thus, each time a benefit can be derived from listening to people with knowledge. This will lead to listening for knowledge or instructions from the teacher.

My own ability to understand English grammar and teach it well is the result of listening to a TESL lecturer who explained the use of Time-lines to show when to use the various tenses that we need to master as an English Language teacher. Today, I am able to explain and use Time-lines efficiently because I paid full attention to what was explained. I am forever grateful to that lecturer.

Imagine how important being able to listen well is! As our children become older and more mature; to have them realise its role, whenever the appropriate situation arises, we could point out to our children, how the boss listens carefully to his executives’ views, value them and, only then, take appropriate action; how executives have to listen to understand clearly what is wanted by the boss, then go down to the workers and instruct them correctly on what they have to do. The workers will have to listen attentively to be able to carry out their task correctly. If, at any point, someone does not listen carefully, an important idea or point may be lost, a misunderstanding can take place and a costly mistake can result.

From the above, it is obvious that listening is an important art which brings plenty of benefits.