My last blog was about the miserable little man who wants to be my Congressman. He lacked a skill everyone should have and I hope I can pass on to my children. It’s concerns being a good friend and a decent human being.
Truthfully, I’m not very decent sometimes and I fail my friends constantly, but I do know the importance of listening.We all need to learn to ask people questions and be genuinely interested in their response. We need to listen, then ask more questions.
My best friend, Amelia, was telling me about a party she went to. I said, “Who did you talk to?”
And she said, “Mostly I just talked to my new friend Julie and learned all about her.”
Amelia is so good at talking to new people because she’s smart, asks questions and listens to the answers. I love introducing people to Amelia because they all love her. Why? She takes an interest in their opinions, ideas and lives.
Dale Carnegie made millions of dollars in the 1930s telling Americans how to get people to like them. His book How To Win Friends and Influence People was so simple and straight forward. But it was true. And the people who took his advice were improved.
Here’s the wikipedia synopsis:
1.Become genuinely interested in other people.
2.Smile.
3.Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4.Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5.Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
6.Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
If you do these things but don’t actually care about people you are just another fake. But if you do these six things sincerely, and with an open heart, you’ll have more friends than you can imagine.
That’s my hot tip for the day.. If you have children, take time to teach them this lesson. Someday they will thank you and everyone will think you’re an awesome parent.
Learn how to ask people questions, then listen to the answers.
Now, you are already miles ahead of the wretched would-be Congressman.
*Write to me hampoland@gmail.com. I promise I’ll listen to every word and then write back.