Give the gift of “Intentional Listening.”  That’s right! This week we’re doing a deep dive into the subject of giving one of the best… most sought after… most coveted gifts a person can give.  It’s the gift of being fully present and listening intently. I know… I know… it’s almost too simple. But in our busy world… I think we can all agree that feeling like someone is truly listening is a rare thing.  All the distractions… pings… bings… and alerts… can keep us from being fully engaged. So, at this time of year… when everyone is looking for that PERFECT gift… I thought it would be good to review some simple but powerful strategies to help you listen more effectively!     Listen To The Podcast:   Click here to download the DREAM THINK DO “Listening Cheat Sheet.” MORE INFO: So… I think we can admit that we’re all guilty of not listening at times in our lives. We tune people (even the important ones… sometimes) out when we’re trying to concentrate on something we’re doing, while we’re binging on Netflix, while we’re being bombarded by all the pinging, dinging and ringing distractions… or when we’re exhausted at the end of a long day.  Listening can impact us at home and… of course… at work too. Recently, The Harvard Business Review reported on a story involving the top executives of a large manufacturer based in Chicago.  These execs were asked to reflect on the role listening has played within their work. Then those same leaders participated in a seminar on intentional listening.  After being exposed to some specific listening strategies (like what we’re covering in this episode), the participants shared some epiphanies and “light bulb” moments around listening:  “Frankly, I had never thought of listening as an important subject by itself. But now that I am aware of it, I think that perhaps 80% of my work depends on my listening to someone, or on someone else listening to me.” “I’ve been thinking back about things that have gone wrong over the past couple of years, and I suddenly realized that many of the troubles have resulted from someone not hearing something, or getting it in a distorted way.” “It’s interesting to me that we have considered so many facets of communication in the company, but have inadvertently overlooked listening. I’ve about decided that it’s the most important link in the company’s communications, and it’s obviously also the weakest one.” Can you relate? It’s true.  Listening is critical to our relationships and to our business success. Again… the good news is that listening is a skill just like speaking, writing, typing or learning to play tennis (or pickleball… cuz… yeah… it’s fun to say “pickleball!”).  That means we can learn to be better listeners and we can unlearn some of the bad habits we’ve all developed.   And that’s why we’re digging into this crucial topic today… especially around the holidays. We’re going to talk about HOW you can listen more effectively and intentionally.   So you can give it as a gift to the important people in your life!   Quick Episode Summary: 0:20 What to expect today! 2:50 Mitch's favorite weird gifts 6:00 The best gift to give 7:50 What everyone truly wants 9:44 Mitch's free gift to you 10:30 Who has been a good listener to you? 11:52 What body language does to listening 19:03 Limiting distractions 20:14 How to show someone you're listening 21:28 The big FU questions 25:28 What do you want to work on? 25:45 What's coming up next   Listen to Mitch Mattews Top Podcast here