One of my favorite professors, who teaches my introduction to personal selling class, has emphasized a few things over and over again throughout the course of the semester. Though the class is focused on the aspect of selling, she constantly reinforces the fact that being a good seller starts with being a good listener. Upon first hearing this, me and my classmates simply sighed and agreed. We're all great listeners, we thought. I'm also engaged when people are talking to me... that would be rude if I wasn't. Yes, I'm truly listening to what you say. But then I thought about what it truly means to be a good listener for a second. Sure, I listen to people, but do I really hear their message and remember it once it's over? If it doesn't involve me, am I truly hearing the extent of what they are saying?
My professor asked us to do a simple task for homework that weekend she first introduced the "listening lesson." She encouraged us, at the next social gathering we went to, to introduce ourselves to a completely random stranger. She wanted us to ask them their name and remember something unique about them. That was an easy enough homework assignment for a class of college kids. Sure enough on the following Monday morning, I couldn't even remember what the person's name started with that I had met over the weekend.
It's hard to give people our all when we're expected to do so much for ourselves. The world seems crazy enough with our own schedules, that I often find it hard to worry about whats going on in anyone else's lives. However, I've begun to notice more and more that when I lie in bed at night, I'm already thinking about what I have to do tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. I think about the work that's due, the people I have to remember to text or e-mail, and even what I'm going to eat for dinner in the coming nights. It's hard to be fully present every minute of every day, but that's truly the thing that our generation is going to miss out on the most.
Have you ever been sitting in a class and all you can think about is what you want to accomplish the second that it's over, and how you're going to accomplish that before you have to do that other thing later that night. All of these thoughts are prohibiting us from living in the moment. Sure, learning about the current task at hand might not be the most interesting thing in the world, but it's more than that. It's more than absorbing the information that you've paid thousands of dollars to listen to, it's about being active, present and engaged. When I look back at my four years at Delaware, I want to be able to remember the classes I took, the memories that came along with them and even specific conversations that made an impact on me.
Each step we take, we are thinking about the steps to come. Though technology and media has proved beneficial to the world we live in, sometimes it needs to be shut down for a few hours. Sometimes you need to lay out in the sun, with your friends, and appreciate the beauty that comes with each and every day you are a part of. Some of your best memories will come about if you take the time to be part of the moment you're in, at the moment it happens. Yes, some may say you're not being organized if you do this, but at the end of the day you need those moments, because they will create a life you'll be happy to look back on.
