The best lessons learned are the one s that you don't expect to learn. In my case and that of people my age, we tend to learn lessons from our mistakes instead of learning them from our elders that have literally "been there and done that." During this semester and in particular in this class, I have learned a very important lesson, which is how to listen. I think I have always heard what people had to say, but for the first time I have learned how to listen, but even more significantly the importance of listening. The exercise that we have performed regarding how to listen and responding to what we has listened to have really ingrained into us these lessons vital in life. I have learned many things this semester but listening is the most important lesson I have learned because now I have began changing my way due to it. .
In order to understand my change I must explain how I acted in the past. I am the stereotypical type of person that jumps to conclusions and assume is my middle name. I tend to assume what people have to say to me before they even say it. It has really affected my line of work and in my personal life. I work in a cleaning out business where in order to get a job I must negotiate a price. When negotiating one must listen to the person who is essentially laying out the money to have this job performed in order to get a sense of what they are willing to pay, but in my case I acted like a child and just shouted prices out to my customers and in certain cases I have lost money due to this unfortunate habit. At this point I have really just focused on what my customers and people in general that I come into contact with have to say and I simply take it from there. .
The other lesson I have learned it to listen more carefully to what people who are taking their time to express themselves to me have to say. Case and point, I tend to just really pick out what I want to listen to and not really listen to the full story.
