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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAccording to the late, great guitar god, Jimi Hendrix, Knowledge Speaks, Wisdom Listens. And on that note\u2026\xa0Welcome to Episode 22 of Navigating the Fustercluck\u2014a podcast full of snackable insights to help you navigate the topsy/turvy world of creativity.\xa0\xa0My name is Wegs, like eggs with a W, joining you from Deaf Mule Studios in Dallas, and no matter what end of the creative world you work in, I\u2019m here to tell you to shut up! In a nice way, of course.\xa0\xa0Now if you\u2019re a regular listener of Navigating the Fustercluck, you know that I never shut up. I talk\u2026And talk, and talk and talk\u2026 So please get past my hypocrisy. And I thank you immensely for once again hearing me out.\xa0There are lots of people telling you how to talk. How to present. Hell, I\u2019ve done it in multiple episodes. Today, however, I\u2019m recalling this powerful, old adage: Silence is golden.\xa0 And all we have to do is listen more. Yet for most of us, that\u2019s asking a lot. Quite a lot.Listening & UnderstandingFact is, for the most part, we do Not listen to understand, we listen only to reply.To be heard. To impress upon others our ideas, instead of aiming for a mutual exchange of ideas.\xa0As Charles Varlet, the Marquis de La Grange, put it\u2026When We Ask Advice We Are Usually Looking for an Accomplice.That\u2019s right, we\u2019re looking for converts, not conversation, anxious for the other person to yield the floor.As writer Fran Lebowitz puts it\u2026The Opposite of Talking Is Not Listening. The Opposite of Talking is Waiting.And she\u2019s right. We forget that conversation is not a competition, it\u2019s a collaboration. A team sport in many ways.When put that way, wouldn\u2019t we all be better served if we set aside our natural self-centeredness to follow the words of Stephen Covey?Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood.\xa0Makes sense, right? Still, it\u2019s hard. And it\u2019s not hard to understand that either.\xa0\xa0Most of us struggle to be heard. To have our ideas given a fair chance.\xa0Perhaps we are so coiled up to talk because we need validation.\xa0Because we so rarely receive praise.\xa0Because it\u2019s so infrequent that people listen to us.\xa0That may explain why we\u2019re so much more focused on talking than listening.I get it. All that considered, think of this sage old adage that my friends\u2019 107-year-old grandmother, Mildred \u201cFern\u201d Puterbaugh used to say:\xa0If you want a friend, be a friend.\xa0Then ply that to what we\u2019re focusing on here:\xa0Isn\u2019t it true? If you want to be heard, you have to listen?\xa0Yes, we should listen out of basic respect for others.\xa0And practically speaking, listening will free the way for better conversations.\xa0Where everyone shares more and learns more from one another. For when You listen, you may learn something new.\xa0\xa0Or as spiritual guru Ram Dass so eloquently states\u2026The Quieter You Become, the More You Can Hear.\xa0One way that I\u2019ve become a better listener is to pause when others pause. Not jumping in at the first opening. Hearing someone out fully and completely.\xa0Another way is to make a point to ask a question after someone speaks. To clarify. To learn more. And after hearing their full response, I often forget what I was going to say. Because what I just heard was more interesting. Or what I had to say wasn\u2019t that important.\xa0This Brings Us to Meetings\u2026\xa0Because of the avalanche of meetings that we\u2019re all invited to, and dread, we get the idea that, well, we better talk!\xa0\xa0First things first, get out of those meetings where you don\u2019t feel that you can add much. It\u2019s a waste of productivity. Unfortunately, once you\u2019re there, you probably feel that you have to be heard or people will question your value. So you talk even when you have nothing to say.\xa0Right before you do, try to keep in mind the words of Abraham Lincoln:\xa0Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool, Than to Speak and Remove All Doubt. – Abraham Lincoln\xa0Ahhh\u2026if only we all would live the wisdom of this Arabic proverb:\xa0Open Your Mou...