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Listening for Clarified Inspiration
By Steve Sjogren | June 6, 2006
As citizens of our global village we sadly lack the ability to take in through our senses what is going on around us. For the most part, we aren’t good at listening – in particular, most Americans are lousy at listening.
In my European travels I have learned that Europeans are much, much better listeners than we are. (A book that I hightly recommend is entitled Quick to Listen Leaders by Dave Ping – it is not only biblical, but very practical. Dave is a “professional listener.” How would you like to have that pressure resting upon your shoulders each day of your life?)
I often get ideas by wandering around what I call “watering holes,” where people hang out in great numbers – parks, malls, university campuses, piers, you get the idea. My favorite place is malls. There is always a crowd there. I am by nature a “rabbit” but I am slowly evolving into a “turtle,” especially after my life-changing medical disaster of a few years ago. My energy is limited. I can only work thirty-five hours a week tops. I used to put in a good 100 hours a week (that was ridiculous – I’m embarrassed to admit that fact now – only crazy people work 100 hours per week – if you do the math on that, that’s basically working and sleeping less than 7 hours a night and doing nothing else, 7 days a week – if you do the math on how much I was being paid for all of that, over the years, I would have made much more working for Wendy’s – enough of my self-loathing rant!).
As I walk the mall, I first purchase a cup of coffee, fill it to the brim with the hot drink so that I have to walk v-e-r-y slowly so as not to spill any. As I walk at a turtle’s pace, I listen carefully to the whispers of the inspirational ideas that come to mind.
Steve Sjogren
stevesjogren[at]mac.com
Topics: Leadership, Clarity |
