What’s in this issue:
💭 Thought: Preparing yourself to listen
📚 Read: A Few Thoughts on Spending Money
😆 Today’s Laugh
💭 Today’s Thought
Recently a manager in a program I was leading told me, “You know, I have always prepared myself to speak. But I have never prepared myself to listen.” This is, I have found, a common condition. For listening, a subject we often take for granted, is actually very hard to do, and we are rarely prepared for it.
- William Isaacs, Dialogue
What if we went into our toughest conversations with the intention of being the best listener we could be, as opposed to being the most effective speaker?
What might you hear that you’re currently missing? What would change about the quality of your conversations, and the outcomes you’re able to create with others?
When we prepare ourselves to listen, we accept that we most probably don’t already have the answers; there’s even more to discover in the space between us and others.
And if we accept this, then we also accept that we can’t effectively plan out everything we could or should say in advance, though it’s tempting to do so. Our most engaging responses will be the ones that come in the moment, based on the new information we discover in the course of conversation.
Preparing to listen requires a trust that can feel scary…
Trust in others to share fully and to honor our vulnerability.
Trust in ourselves that the “right” response will come to us in the moment.
And trust in the power of the relationship to hold and withstand whatever happens.
Most often, we’ll discover that each of these dimensions of trust is stronger than we give it credit for.
In what situations might it serve you to prepare yourself to listen, rather than to speak?
📚 Today’s Read
A Few Thoughts on Spending Money
A friend and former colleague of mine Morgan Housel — author of the fantastic book The Psychology of Money — offers a series of reflections on our complex relationship with money and how we choose to use it. So many great nuggets in here to reflect on! Check it out.
See you next week!
xo,
Anne