Persons speak to us and we don't listen! We hear them.

We listen 25% of time and hear and make up rest of story 75% of time. And of course while they're talking, our mind is going at 25 miles per hour thinking of our next question, right?

Listen folks! When we listen and I mean truly listen we respect other person and we respect their views and opinions. The speaker can be heard and his message can then be understood. The message is communicated in totality and with clarity.

As a child have you ever played that game where someone whispers something to someone else who in turn whispers what she hears to another person... and around it goes. But by time message comes back to original person it is 'way off'.

This is distortion of message and is what happens when we don't listen. We think we hear what previous person says.

My friends this is okay for a child's game but can you imagine serious implications for us as adults when we don't listen?

When our boss doesn't listen to us… when rich countries don't listen to poor ones…when West doesn't listen to East or vice versa… when husbands don't listen to their wives..

Can you see importance of listening?

Yet faster you can learn new things, more valuable you will be to your employer, and more likely you’ll be to advance in your career. It isn’t an option these days.

WHAT LEARNING CURVES HAVE IN COMMON

What can you do to accelerate your learning curve and increase your value to your employer? The interesting thing is that there are things all learning curves have in common, whether you’re learning how to facilitate team work, learning a new software program, learning a new language, or learning how to negotiate. The better you understand mechanics of THE learning curve, better you’ll be able to deal with individual ones that come along, and this is part of Emotional Intelligence.

GETTING RID OF THE FEAR

If you think back on things you’ve learned in past, you’ll probably realize that one of things that slowed you down was fear. I can certainly think of examples in my own case.

An example of how fear can slow you down is evident if you’ve watched a young child learn how to ski. A child doesn’t fear failure nor success, nor do they fear falling down. New things are an every day occurrence for a child, and this is just next one. In learning to ski, they fall repeatedly and bounce back like a rubber ball. They consider it all fun. Thus there is nothing slowing down learning except their ability to master motor skills. What a relief!

Many of Emotional Intelligence competencies facilitate learning. One of them is flexibility. The skiing example shows a sort of physical flexibility, but this is applicable to mental tasks as well. We don’t all learn best same way. You may be sent to a seminar or training that doesn’t fit your learning style. If you’re flexible, and have learned how to learn (the learning curve), you’ll be able to shape things to your own benefit.

Take learning a new software program, for instance, something many of us are faced with almost monthly. One person may learn better by reading manual, while another may do better by being shown. Yet another may be used to “throw them to wolves method,” or by hearing a tape or looking at an interactive video on computer screen.

This has to do with your innate learning style which can be discovered through an assessment such as StrengthsFinder® profile, by working with a coach, or by analyzing your own history. Generally when left to your own devices, you’ll do what comes naturally to you, which will always be quickest and easiest way for you to learn.

LEARNING HISTORIES