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When it comes to your listening readiness, are you ready to hear positives or only the negatives? As you read that question, you might think I should be asking it in reverse. Isn’t it easier to hear the positives than the negatives? Well, it all depends on what your listening barriers are. And it is just as important to hear the positives as the negatives.

Listening Readiness: Do You Hear the Positives or Just the Negatives? Image by BlueKDesign via Flickr.

Image by BlueKDesign via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Listening Readiness: Are You Ready to Hear the Positives?

What Stops You From Hearing Positives & Agreement?

There are several conscious and subconscious barriers to hearing the positives that others are saying to you.

1. Embarrassment over receiving compliments. A sincere compliment is a gift. Ignoring it is actually rude. Hear it and say thank you.

2. Fear of manipulation. If you cynically believe that people are trying to manipulate you, you may block the positives to avoid it. Mistrust can skew or even stop our listening. Tip: Hear the positives and then assess their value.




Mistrust can skew and even stop your listening. #PeopleSkills #Openness
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3. Expectation of the negatives to follow. I am thinking here of employees who say they don’t want to hear the positives during a performance review. They think the negatives will come quickly after so they just brace themselves for that.

4. Being ready for battle. If you engage with others thinking you will have to fight, it’s likely you will not hear them say “we agree.” Tip: Trust your ability to handle the negatives when they come up. Yet, start with an open mind and you will hear everything. That’s valuable!

And Those Long-Lasting Scars

5. Previous scars that make you hedge your bet. Your scars can lower your expectations. You think subconsciously, “If I don’t expect anything good, I won’t be caught off guard or disappointed.” But, you will live a disappointed scarred life. Well you deserve better! So start believing it. Create a positive life through hearing the positives as well as the negatives.

Listening Readiness: Benefits to Hearing Positives

While you can work on fixing negatives, you can build on the positives. Whether it’s with your employees, among team members, or with customers, positives build irresistible memories and moments. These draw everyone together again and again. Even in tough negotiations, find the positives to achieve shared success.

Take-Aways

• Replace fear with wonder. It will transform your life. As you hear the positives, your ability to handle the negatives gets stronger.







“Replace fear with wonder. It will transform your life.” ~Kate Nasser





• Embrace a positive attitude. You will hear more of the positives than you’ve heard before. Be that optimistic realist that changes your own life and life in general.

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Overcome Your Listening Barriers: Unstick From Keywords!

©2021 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Tags: agreement, cynicism, Defensive, embarrassment, fear, inspiration, listening, mistrust, negative, obstacles, people skills, positive, Soft Skills, trust