|
Wisdom
Welcome to Monday! I hope it was a great weekend for you. Have you felt business picking up? More listing appointments? More buyers? The fall market has begun, and it’s predicted to be a great one. How exciting!
We all love a great market, which usually indicates increased sales and income. How will you manage the increased income and plan for your future? You don’t want to be one of those agents who suddenly finds themselves in a “cooled-off market” saying, “Please give us just one more boom, and I promise to save some money this time!” The time to think of the future is now, and the word that comes to mind is “wisdom.”
Wisdom is defined as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Those with wisdom also possess knowledge and have an understanding of people, events, situations and the willingness – as well as the ability – to apply perception, judgment and action in keeping with the understanding of the optimal course of action. Now is the time to think about how you can secure your future. Ours is a business of ups and downs. We’re in an “up” market, but that can change. Use wisdom this year with your purchases, investments and savings.
Something to Think About
Wisdom is regarded as one of four cardinal virtues and, as such, is a disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance, with the limitation of error in any given action. That means the decisions you make might not always have the outcomes you want, but you have thought them through, applied wisdom and considered the outcome or consequence.
Weekly Activity
Are you working with an investment professional to plan for your future and retirement? If not, this is a great time to ask those you trust who they’re working with. Make an appointment, and get started planning for your future today.
Words of Wisdom
“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” – Zig Ziglar
“In time of peace, prepare for war.” – Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
“You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again.” – Pat Riley Crafting Your Response
Welcome to Monday! As summer draws to a close and business picks up, it’s a great time to complete our series on listening. The final skill is Responding. If you’ve mastered the other skills in the listening process, then responding should be easier than ever. You’ll be prepared to address the speaker’s most important points with an awareness of the circumstances and context surrounding his/her words.
It’s important to understand the transition between listening and speaking, though, and be aware of the ways responding is still part of the active listening process:
• Don’t complete the speaker’s sentences. This is a presumptuous and rude way to respond. Why do we all do it at times? I think there are several reasons: Sometimes we’re pressed for time. Sometimes we haven’t really listened or evaluated what the person is saying, and we assume that we know what he/she is going to say. Sometimes it’s a person who always says the same thing, and it’s painful. Sometimes he/she is speaking so slow that it’s driving us crazy! Do any of these sound familiar? Perhaps we should look at it from the other person’s viewpoint: Why would he/she say the same thing over and over? Why does he/she talk slow or keep starting over when we interrupt? Maybe we’ll discover that it’s less painful when we become better listeners.
• Address the speaker’s points. It makes it easier for the speaker to transition into a listener when he/she knows exactly which part of the message you’re addressing. Examples include, “When you said… my first thought was…” or “If I can go back and ask you about something you said. You said…”
Something to Think About
While each stage seems like a lengthy process, it all happens in a very short amount of time and should feel natural during a conversation. All you’re doing by practicing these tips is making yourself more conscious of the way you communicate and the bad habits you should avoid in the listening process.
Listening is the most important part of communication, because if you fail to understand the message being expressed to you, you also will fail in providing a substantial and meaningful response. This is the root cause of many arguments, misunderstandings and complications, whether at home or at work. Being able to take control of the listening process will turn you into a better communicator overall.
Weekly Challenge
This week, be aware of your conversations at home and in the workplace. Apply all of the skills that we have discussed this month, and watch what happens in all of your relationships.
Words of Wisdom
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey
“This is the problem with dealing with someone who is actually a good listener. They don’t jump in on your sentences, saving you from actually finishing them, or talk over you, allowing what you do manage to get out to be lost or altered in transit. Instead, they wait, so you have to keep going.” – Sarah Dessen
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t being said. The art of reading between the lines is a lifelong quest of the wise.” – Shannon L. Alder
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” – Zeno of Citium
“It takes a great man to be a good listener.” – Calvin Coolidge
“Defensiveness is usually someone silently screaming that they need you to value and respect them in disguise. When you look for deeper meanings behind someone’s pain you can then begin to heal not only yourself, but others.” – Shannon L. Alder
|
No comments:
Post a Comment