Just stop for a minute and listen. What can you hear? I can hear my fingers tapping on the keyboard. I can hear the heater pumping warm air into the house. I was just startled by my mini tripod falling onto my hands. The roof just creaked. There’s the whirr of the laptop fan. The wind blows outside. I admit, I often think the house is quiet late at night, but really it’s full of noise.

It’s amazing what we hear when we stop and pay attention to what is happening around us rather than what we want to happen. Now, I’m fortunate enough to work from home, but what if you’re not? Or what if you spend most of your day away from your home office? Do you stop to listen to the hum of your day? The car, the surroundings, the people?

Now here’s a thing… do you honestly believe you spend enough time listening to the people around you? Or are you, like most, busy thinking about what to say/ how to solve/ what comes next?

We are so conditioned to help. We need to be needed. We strive. We aim for the next sale. The next conversion. Hustle! We are in such a hurry.

listen quote simon sinek

But what if we didn’t? What if we just stopped and listened? What then?

What if instead of racing to find the solution to our customer’s woes we stopped to listen? Would we find out that instead of assuming that they needed a hammer to hang that picture frame that they really needed a level? Would that make us look bad?

What if instead of taking a deep breath when a co-worker or staff member arrives we just listened? Would we hear that the anxiety they feel isn’t because they are timid, but instead they are afraid of disappointing?

What if instead of filling our heads with all the reasons why we couldn’t or shouldn’t, we listened to something deeper? What if we listened for the story we weren’t being told. It lies just under the surface of what we are told.

What if we listened to that untold story instead?

listen quote stephen covey

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