“Learn to really listen.”

I was talking with the taxi driver on a recent trip, and asked him about the book that he had next to him, which talked about thinking big.

I won’t go into what he told me he learned from his book, since it is irrelevant to this post, but I will tell you what came next in the conversation.

He asked me, “and what have you learned recently” to which I replied that I learned that I learn about myself from journaling, thinking, and talking.  He said, in his broken English.  “But those are all outputs, what are your inputs.  You need inputs to learn something new!”  To which I replied sheepishly “yeah, I’ve been read voraciously recently” and got out of the cab at my destination with a great lesson, that I had forgot about for a few years due to a busy life – keep the inputs coming!

I thought a little more about inputs, and realized that the other main input that we really have is listening.  Honestly, I do try to listen, but I’m not so good at it. It’s funny though, because, when I listen, I always learn so much new stuff.   So why is that?

Basically, my ego gets in the way.  It says, if someone teaches me something, they are better than me, so be careful, and don’t listen – talk and make them see how smart you are.  Well, my ego is telling me some real bad advice, and I think it’s better to just ignore him (my voice is me after all), and rather, stop talking so much, and really focus on listening to the inputs from others, so I can learn new approaches and aspects on life.

P.S.  He also told me that he would do anything to raise his kids and send them to a good school so they can have a good life – and he meant it.  Another great lesson for us all to emulate.

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