Do you know that at least 40% of your time is spent listening?

An average person spends 9% writing (including anything electronic), 16% reading, 35% talking, and a huge 40% listening.

Amazingly though, on average, people are only about 2.5 % effective as listeners, pretty much wasting the other 97.5% of the time they are supposed to be listening.

As humans, we want to jump straight into the conversation, and instead of listening intently to the other party, all were thinking about is what we can say next.

Consequently, we create unnecessary problems for ourselves through misunderstandings, loss of important information, embarrassment, frustration & even hurt feelings.

So why do we not make more effort to develop our listening skills & improve a vital communication skill. Like we do for sales, marketing, management & leadership?

Can you image how much more successful you would be in your business and personal relationships, if you could identify and act accordingly on everything that’s being said?

Listening is a skill, and just like any other skill, you must practise hard before seeing improvement.

I’ve not come across many business books that are entirely devoted to helping you develop your listening skills.

So when I came across ‘Listening’ written by Madelyn Burley-Allen back in the 80’s & then updated in 1995, I just had to ‘listen’ to it whilst walking the dog.

It amazed me. There’re so many things that we don’t realise were doing when in the middle of a conversation. Improving your ability to listen could be a real game changer.

It’s not an easy or classic read. But it’s full of improvement ideas, which can be implemented straight away & provide you with immediate results.

‘Listening’ gets a thumbs up & 4 stars.

If you’ve got any questions about the book, connect & message me on LinkedIn or drop me an email to darren@mytotalofficesolutions.com

You can watch all our business book reviews at https://mytotalofficesolutions.co.uk/business-book-reviews/

…see you next week.