Listening is the key to successful communication, and therefore to success in life. It is an acquired skill which this programme teaches you.

We live in a world of so much noise that many young people are going deaf. The noise is, literally, deafening.

The communication noise is overwhelming, too. It causes a form of claustrophobia. We feel crowded in by emails, advertisements, brochures, offers, surveys, events, socialising, compulsory fun. We can become slaves to communication.

A lot of communication is good. It keeps our minds active and stops the old from sliding into dementia. It gives us the sort of rich lives our parents and grandparents didn’t dream of.

The down side is that it encourages us to think more about ourselves than others. It encourages us to chatter non-stop. We are forever telling the world what we think. Have we forgotten the Golden Rule that we were given TWO ears but only ONE mouth?

Did our Maker drop us a hint there? I think so.

Everyone wants to tell us what to do. We want to tell everyone else what to do. A world of instructions, orders, requests, pleadings, begging. Very little listening. We talk too much because we are insecure and think that talking will establish a place for us in the world.

The natural response to all this noise is to shout louder. If you are to be heard you must surely raise your voice above that of the other person. The opposite is true.

If you listen, two things will happen in your life:
First, you will be respected. People will listen to you BECAUSE YOU TALK LESS. You will find that you think more carefully about what you say - because you have listened.

So what you say will be worth listening to.

Second, you will become a much more interesting person. The next time you are out with a group, watch the people in it. There will be two sorts of quiet members of the party. One sort will be the dummies. They have nothing to say, they are bored and they are boring. But the other quiet people will be very interesting - because they will be interested.

To be interesting you must be interested.

Listening is not only about understanding what the other person is saying but about what they are writing, as well. How often do you send people very clear directions, which they don’t read?
Listening applies just as much to what you read as to what you see and hear.

Listening is not a trick. It is an acquired skill. You can acquire it.

This Programme consists of fifteen exercises that take you through:

• getting interested
• learning to ask questions
• learning how to learn
• making a new, rewarding impression on your business and your boss
• feeling socially at ease
• understanding the importance of body language in listening
• winning the hearts and minds of people
• finding out how much more there is in the world than you thought
• making real friends for life, not just passing acquaintances
• dumping the jargon
• achieving a reputation for kindness and generosity of spirit
• creating your own, memorable style
• being independent but never isolated
• discovering how wise you already are - but didn’t know it
• being fulfilled beyond your wildest dreams
• I take you through the email exercises one by one. You do them at home, in your own time. I analyse your work and LISTEN to what you have to say.

Are you listening?

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