Why it is important to listen to others' views

“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.”

- Bernard M. Baruch 

By Tony Gordon

We spend so much time listening to reply; however, it is so much more rewarding to take the time and actually hear others' viewpoints.

When you disagree with someone, you want to save time listening to their viewpoints. Although listening to something you disagree with is not always fun, it is essential to your future for several reasons. Here are a few of the ones I feel are most important. 

You Will Learn Something New

Listening also helps expand your mind to be more accepting of new thoughts, which will help you be more successful in the future. When you take the time to listen to someone else and their viewpoints, you are exposed to thoughts that do not exist in your mind and perspectives you may not have considered before. And even though you may not like what you hear, you often learn new things by listening to others.

Listening Helps You Develop Patience 

As previously mentioned, being able to sit there and listen to someone you disagree with is difficult. You will have to have patience. And if you still need to develop the necessary tolerance for this task, listening to others more often will help you create it. If you are struggling with the job, try to remember you are listening to learn something new. Listening will help you focus more carefully on the words the other person is saying. You can also listen with the intent to ask questions. 

You Expand Your Network

People love when others listen to what they have to say, and it makes them feel important. When you take the time to listen to someone else, even though you may disagree with what they are saying, you make that person feel better about themselves. And this can help you create a new friend or connection. This can help you on your path to success in the future, as you never know when you may need to know someone in a particular field or area of study. And hey, expanding your network is always a clever idea. 

In Conclusion

Overall, listening to someone else who has an opposing viewpoint from yourself will be a challenging task. But when you resolve to listen to someone else, this helps teach you new things and develops your patience. 

Not only that, but it also helps you to grow your network which could provide immeasurable value to you in the future. Thus, it is time to learn how to listen to others sooner rather than later if you want to succeed. 

Therefore, really be open-minded and listen carefully in all your conversations today and note how many valuable points you pick up. Now reflect on these and consider how much value all the things you heard today will bring to you. 

Previously published on Changing Your Mind Ltd