Are you chatty or listeny?

June 04, 2017 1:43 PM

Epictetus once said that human beings have two ears and one mouth so they can listen twice as much as they speak.

It’s a corny sentiment, but it’s also an effective strategy.

And this is coming from a professional performer and extrovert who loves talking to people, cherishes an engaging conversation and feels completely comfortable interacting with almost anybody.

But still, I never enjoyed talking just for the sake of talking. I’m not compulsively sociable. Despite the fact that I’ve been wearing a nametag twenty four seven for the past seventeen years, I still subscribe to the old saying, don’t break the silence if you can’t improve upon it.

That’s why I don’t think of myself as chatty. More like, listeny, to coin a phrase. I find it deeply pleasurable to stand back, soak it in and allow the stimuli of the world to wash over me.

Especially if I get to take notes about the interesting things that I observe and add them to my idea inventory.

That, to me, is the juice of life. Breathing it all in.

Clinton famously said that he never inhaled, but in my experience, that’s where I learn the most. On the inhale. Exhaling may be gratifying to the ego and a necessary component of the communication process. But in the pie chart of human interaction, I aim to make listening the largest slice.

To use my ears twice as much as my mouth.

And to communicate to other than listening is a priority in my life.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you known as somebody who monopolizes the listening or monopolizes the talking?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com