Listening is the Key to Success

Listening has more benefits than most people realize. When you are listening, you are learning. When you are speaking, you are only repeating what you know. I knew a guy in my teens who talked continuously. He said that the reason he talked too much was that he believed it made him smarter and that at 21 he would become a millionaire.

Fast forward 20+ years and at forty years, he is further from being a millionaire than he was at twenty one. There is a saying that goes “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, so use them proportionally”

The quality of the content that you are listening to is of great importance. Entrepreneurs around the globe scour the internet in search for quality content from experts in business, marketing, branding and anything else they believe will give them the edge on success. In computers they use the terminology GIGO meaning Garbage In and Garbage Out. Be selective on the knowledge you acquire.

Have you heard the phrase “Knowledge is Power?” This is true to a certain degree! It’s all good possessing the knowledge but if you don’t apply it to anything then you effectively are just a storage unit holding it. The real power lies in applied knowledge: unpacking that knowledge and applying it to a business or a venture is where things start to happen.

Listening is a transaction of information between two people. One person is talking and giving away information and the person is listening and receiving information. If you are starting out as an entrepreneur, be humble, keep quiet and let those with more knowledge and experience talk. You will learn valuable lessons from their years of experience.

Stay focused. If you are in a conversation then obviously don’t turn in to a complete mute. Acknowledge that you understand what the other person is saying by nodding your head and keeping eye contact to show you are present. Don’t get distracted by your phone or other people. You are considered wise until you begin to speak.

The only time you should be speaking is when they have finished and you have another question to assist your journey further. We are all perpetual students in one form or another. No one knows everything.

We all like to talk about ourselves, our business, what we are doing… it’s human nature. In this occasion, you have an opportunity to let someone guide you into an area where you are not yet successful. It’s not a competition of who speaks the longest and loudest wins.

It’s the simple things in life and business that propel you forward. But most of us need to awaken to such truths.

To understand just how powerful listening is and why listening is the key to success you only have to look to some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson. He puts his success down to listening and taking notes on a notepad that he always carries. It seems so simple but how many people are still not doing this?

Another successful entrepreneur is Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. He puts his success down to asking for feedback, listening to what people say and then taking action. Though now a billionaire, Craig still works as a customer support representative for Craigslist and still applies this simple habit to every area of his life.

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Everybody loves when others listen to them, but few people will admit it. And while everybody listens too, few are particularly good at it.