Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 156). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This is such practical advice, isn’t it? John says, “Questions start the conversation, but listening encourages it to continue. Listening shows that I want to understand someone before I try to be understood by them. Questions + Listening = Quality Conversation. Quality Conversation = Quality Leadership.” He goes on, “I had to learn how to listen because I was too intent on talking. Today, I usually ask the other person to talk first and share with me everything they want me to know. I listen intently, keeping my eyes focused on them. I don’t interrupt, and I try to give them all the time they need. Why? I want them to feel understood. When they stop, I’ll even ask, ‘Is that everything you wanted to say? If there’s anything else, go ahead and share. I have time.’ Only after th

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 155). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) If you are a leader and almost every one of us leads something or someone, this will be beneficial for us. John says, “Slowly I learned that leadership was a two-way street. It took time for me to discover what I later called the Law of Communication: Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. For years I bypassed the heart and went straight for the hand. But everything changed when I began asking more questions and started giving less direction. I became intent on focusing on others. Questions are the keys that unlock the door to another person’s life, and I began using them to learn about people.” He goes on, “I also ask questions because it helps me find the right people. I didn’t know I needed to do that when I was younger. Now I know that to find the people who wan

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 135). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I came to realize that last year before my 69 th birthday.   I hadn’t been to see a Doctor for over six years. I felt good and I hadn’t gone.   But I heard Rick Warren say that going to the Doctor and having good health wasn’t something he did for himself, he did it for his family.   He knew the major distress for them if he wasn’t around.   So, I went to different Doctors for them and I am still in good health even at 70.  I made major changes in my habits of life for me and for them. John said, “Civil rights activist Benjamin E. Mays observed, ‘The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities.’” John