As we say goodbye to the year 2024, we prepare to welcome 2025 and all that it has in store for us – including the opportunity to help more people along the way – hello, January 1st!
Seems like the thing to do
Here, we are at the threshold of a new year, 2025, so it seems reasonable, if not expected, that we create at least one resolution to strive for and keep more than a day or two for the new year. New Year’s resolutions are notoriously short-lived. Some don’t even survive the first day.
We mean so well. That’s why we create the resolutions. However, old habits are difficult to release.
That said, there is one resolution that makes a lot of sense for Certified Aging In Place Specialists to adopt. We should endeavor to hear what our clients (and others we are working with, including our family and associates) desire, and we only do that if we intently and deliberately listen to them.
We listen in two ways
Obviously, we hear with our ears, but we don’t always listen. How many people have a favorite song they like to hear but they don’t really know all of the words? Repetition is no guarantee of listening and comprehension success.
Not just hearing the words, but understanding them and their meaning and emotion is important for total communication.
We also listen with our eyes by detecting visual signals of what is going on around us. Our client’s living space or the way they are using it may convey one message to us when, in fact, they say something else to us or attempt to dismiss it when we ask.
What we gain
What we gain from committing to a year of intensive, intentional, deliberate listening – to our clients, associates, family, associates, and friends – is a greater understanding of what people need and how we can help them. We can understand urgencies, financial concerns, and just observations without any underlying substance to them. Keeping these issues straight will help us serve people more effectively, and we’ll feel better about it, too.
Have a wonderful new year, and good luck with the resolution to adopt stronger listening skills!
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