Giving or Receiving?

I spent the last entire week at Total Solutions Plus meetings which is a first time concept for the ceramic tile and stone world - 3 different industry associations, Tile Council of North America, National Tile Contractors Association and Ceramic Tile Distributors Association, all meeting together at the same time in the same location.

What became clear during this week were several items on this first time adventure: (A) We all liked the concept of getting everyone together in one group, (B) schedule overlaps need to be looked at and re-evaluated, (C) we needed more "social networking" time so everyone can visit and get maximum benefits of being together.

What I gained from that entire week of meetings cannot be explained in the small space of this blog, but I did make a very specific effort to gain information from every single group meeting or conversation that I had during that time. In evaluating the experience I started to reflect on how much information I "normally" miss by wanting to "give" my knowledge to folks I talk with as opposed to staying quiet and "receiving" information from them. I just finished a book about that subject and made a very difficult decision for me by attempting to listen at least twice as much as I spoke, and by "Fully listening" as opposed to my usual attitude of listening just to develop my answer or come back to the statement. Man that was hard for me.

I now wonder, as I evaluate this experiment just how much valuable information I've missed during my lifetime by not listening fully but rather just giving information and preparing to give more information while I had to endure what the other person had to say.

Life is funny isn't it? By the time you gain this valuable skill many of us are almost past our prime to utilize it fully. That being said, it is never too late to change old habits and learn new skills and this listening fully stuff has some merit to it.

The next time we have an opportunity for a telephone conversation, or a face-to-face talk, please call me on this shortcoming, if I start to backslide, so that I can continue to grow as I did last week. As a great friend of mine used to say: "The only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and depth." Listen your way to life today and let me know your thoughts on this subject.
Steve