These two words share the same six letters and their unique combinations offer the perfect complement:

To listen is to first be silent.

To listen should arise from a desire to hear and then to understand. All too often, we are busy formulating our own response before the speaker has even completed a sentence; that doesn’t qualify as listening. And then there are those who will only “listen” to what they want to hear, who tune in to those thoughts and ideas that validate their own world view; that doesn’t qualify as listening either.

To be silent includes not speaking, yet goes deeper than that. It includes achieving a calm state and quieting the noise in your head. The conversation we might be having within ourselves will drown out any external messaging. The ability to quiet that conversation opens the mind to listening.

To be silent also requires eliminating external distractions of all sorts. The unlimited distractions of mobile devices, aka “smart phones”, are at the top of the list. Beeps, buzzes, chimes and flashes all conspire to capture our attention. Begin a personal conversation by silencing your mobile device and discover how the quiet focuses your attention on what is being said.

The brilliant Dr. Stephen Covey in his masterwork, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, declared in Habit 5: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” The wisdom of this truth begins with being silent and having a genuine intent to listen. It’s a transformative combination.

Tempus Maximize!