Jim Kwik explains why trying to be interesting backfires. Most people are too busy talking internally to actually listen. The letters in "listen" spell "silent" - a reminder that presence means shutting up and focusing on the other person instead.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most people, they want to be understood and they're not interested. They're trying to be interesting.
Oh my gosh, they're trying to be interesting. They're not interested. The people whose company I enjoy the most, who are some of the most influential people I've ever met, they're less interested in being interesting and they are more interested in you.
And they're present with you. That's a trained skill. Listen, if you write the word listen and then scramble the letters, it spells the word silent. And most people, they're not silent, they're talking to themselves. If you're talking to yourself and listening to a new person talk, you can't listen to 2 conversations at once.
The Library of Minds: Brain Coach: How to Stay Sharp When AI Does the Thinking | Jim Kwik
