When I was younger I trust so much in my strength and intelligence that I rarely listen to others. Do you know the funny part of it, I didn’t know I was obstinately stubborn to a fault following a steep dark alley leading nowhere.
Intelligence without the capacity to listen leads to dim life of frustration.
This is why you see a professor begging in life and you see a servant reigning.
Everything isn’t witches. Check your life.
The sign of poor listening by experience:
- You want to show stuffs. You want to tell others that you know it all.
- You relegate advice and whatever others have to say.
In my journey through life I paid dearly for this.
These days as I become more elderly I deliberately decide to listen more and more.
Even the fool has knowledge to part with if we listen the more to hear him out. At least you can learn how not to be a fool by his outcome.
Be keen about counsel…
Find counsel
Celebrate counsel…
They are the rare gifts of God to guide us along to our throne
Proverbs 24:6 KJV
For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Proverbs 15:22 KJV
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
Proverbs 11:14 KJV
Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
In the real sense based on the benevolence of God he will always give counsel but often we fail to yield.
Failure to yield to counsels leads to fall, failure and oppression. Many of life failure is attributed to failing to adhere to or seek counsel…
Failure to heed is symmetry of pride… Being wise in our own eyes.
This days I cease seeing myself as being wise in order that I might absorb the full wisdom out there. The simple test of the really wise is their capacity to listen to others but we often think the more we have things to say is the mark of being wise.
A simple test of the fool is his penchant to discounting other people’s advice.
A life of meaning starts with listening.
Seriously…
Everything in nature is talking to you, the nature, the element, your hunger, etc
Listen well and you will heed counsel.
A recent experience
I started a project recently. Before launching out I went after several counsel.
Each counsel gave additional knowledge.
After building up a knowledge base, I brought together the beneficiary. I was still opened to listening. After telling them how things would go, they love the idea. They also made strategic input to help along.
This became the basis why I didn’t fail.
If I had not listened well enough, I could have lost my money and business… And then back to square one. I kept thinking if I had been headstrong and adamant.
Do you know the big reward of being headstrong and adamant?
People will begin to look at you. The reason is that you’ve helped them create an impression that you’ll not listen.
Look at critical areas of failures in your life. Most often, they represent areas where you failed to listen and heed the signs and warnings.
A strategic tool of leaders is the capacity to listen intently.
If you have failed many times like me, you’ll realize the importance of listening. It cost a ton of pain not to listen in life.
Here are some of the cost
Lose of:
Money
Relevance
Respect
Relationship
Health
Followers
Etc
Money
You need advice on how to make and spend money.
Lack of advice/counsel is what makes a high earner early in life die a pauper in old age.
I hold seminars with employees of organizations on the concept of business and money.
Many of them are nonchalant, look bore or not caring.
The flow of money through salary makes them fail to listen and to see what has befallen those who were before them.
Financial accident happens often because we failed to listen to the warnings around.
The pressure of being like others
The stress of coping with limited sources
The demands on the limited funds
The need to build strength to say no to avoidable demands and spending
Etc
Relevance
When we fail to listen, we wouldn’t learn new things and without new things we are stagnated. A stagnated person belongs to yesterday. Then he lose relevance.
Respect
Failure to listen leads to failure upon failure.
As a leader, your followers will lose respect for you.
As a husband your wife will disdain many of your move.
In the early part of my marriage, I was burning money, wasting time and struggling a lot.
I jump at every idea without weighing the options and not listening to my environment.
It was more activities and less results
There’s one period, I have wasted funds on many printing for startups that never left our shelf. Then I wanted to delve into another idea. Then my wife stood her ground, enough of the waste.
Too much failure was making me lose my respect in terms of good judgment. Over the night we prayed, and the next day God visited and we were blessed with money through a small job.
I listened to her reactions then. This days I’m becoming more cautious taking actions.
The result is paying off by his grace
The bottom line, when you fail too often you may likely lose the respect of judgement
Relationship
Homes that break asunder by separation or divorce was largely due to one or both partner not listening to the feelings or words of the other partner. For instance, your spouse anger doesn’t mean he or she is “angry” per se.
Often see the anger as a way of communication. By so doing you’ll not retaliate. Instead you will work on getting the full intent of his or her supposed anger
Every action or inaction of your spouse is a message to listen to.
If you do this you will begin to experience a robust and joyous marriage
Health
If you listen to your body, you’ll redeem it before it pack off. The fact that others can eat certain food doesn’t mean it’s OK for you.
Drunkards don’t suddenly end up with liver and kidney problems. The signs has been there earlier.
The gluttons don’t just end with fat all over his body.
Listen to your body and live a healthy long life.
Followers
Listening leaders grow followers.
Listening includes empathising with them.
Directing them on safe course.
Offering them an exemplary life.
Without listening to their needs makes you lose them.
Caveat
Sometimes you lose your followers not because you’re not listening enough, but because those followers are of another fold and you’re not sent to them.
Jesus said: My sheep hear me.
But be sure you’re not losing them because you’re not a listening leader.
The sign of a poor listening leader is poor judgement and many errors. Listen to what goes on around you and you begin to grow in accuracy of judgement. With accuracy of judgement you will awe your world. Then you begin to gain relevance, respect, money, followers, etc.
Listening then will cause you to reign in your generation
This has helped me to fix some problems in my marriage thank you very much