Listening Now Blog

This is our third post in the series on Listening Currency from Birdy Diamond.  In the very first article in this series, Birdy introduced us to the idea of listening currency.  The second article in the series, Birdy gave us five times when we should ‘spend’ our listening currency.   

In this post, Birdy invites us to talk about twelve times when it’s better to keep your listening currency in the bank. (So to speak.).  Please enjoy the third in this series from Birdy Diamond!

 A Dozen Ways to Save

While I found twelve separate times to ‘save’ your listening currency, I also discovered that they all fell into one of two categories: Worldview or Static.

 Let’s deal with each group separately.

 Worldview

A great explanation for what this means is found in a post my husband, Mike, wrote in his post “What’s this Worldview Thing Anyway?”  He writes:

“Let’s put it this way – our worldview is how we see the universe. It comes from our education, our experience, our peers, and our leaders of all types.

It’s the filter through which our mind analyzes what input it gets. It’s our personal model of the universe. Our score sheet of what’s right, what’s wrong, and what belongs, or not”.

In relation to Listening Currency, it specifically refers to those people who have a worldview so much in disharmony with yours that to listen to them would not be helpful and perhaps would even be harmful.

Here are some examples of those kinds of people. 

1. Sovereignty-stealers

When people start talking to you in ways designed to compromise your sovereignty, keep your listening currency in the bank!

No one else is you, no one else has your unique set of circumstances, experiences, and beliefs, so no one else has as good an understanding of what is best for you than you yourself.

This is not to say that advice, occasionally even unsolicited advice, can’t be useful. It is to say to approach advice with extreme caution and a heavy filter, and to make sure that you only take in what is truly relevant and useful to you.

2. Negativity-broadcasters

In my opinion, there is far too much negativity in this world today. And for some bizarre reason, folks find it useful to spread this garbage around.

You certainly don’t have to to listen to this bombardment of negativity, and I suggest that you listen rarely, if at all. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need any help being depressed.

Whether it’s a general mood or coming from specific people, do your best to insulate yourself from it and keep your listening currency in the bank when you encounter it.

Great things have been achieved by people who refused to listen to the negativity around them. Be one of them! Know when to keep your listening currency in the bank.

3. Glass-half-empty People

Closely related to the Negatives, these people take great delight in telling you why things can’t be done,  or why things will fail.

There are so many possibilities for the derailment of your Dreams out there already, you don’t need to invite more by listening to this kind of person.

And people who tell you “It’s for your own good!” – ?

Run.

Fast.

It’s not.

Keep your Dreams safe! When such people come around – keep your listening currency in the bank!

4. Living la Vida Vicarious Types

These are the people that do little of their own living, preferring to get their joys from living others’ lives.

Not necessarily intentionally harmful, they can nonetheless cause problems by sucking up your time in endless discussions of what others are doing, and what they’d love to be doing themselves, ‘if only’. They can also have a tendency to want to live your life, instead of their own.

Have a strict Listening Currency spending limit with these people, or you may soon find yourself in their position.

5. The Endless Planners

A sub set of the Vicarious folk, these people plan and plan and plan, until everything is worked out perfectly – but there is no room for action, since inevitably before the plan can be used, something changes, and the cycle begins again.

I have to admit that my husband and I have been guilty of this one from time to time. It can be a hard one to get past, but a good time to keep your Listening Currency in the bank.

6.  I Dunno People

Found on both sides of the positive/negative spectrum, this can be another case of lost time.

While sometimes conversation can lead to actual solutions, more often it will lead to erroneous or incomplete information.

7. Endless Experts

A dangerous subset of the “I Dunnos” are the people who are expert on every subject, without reservation, whether they actually are or not.

It can be hard to tell whether or not you should listen to them, so remember to keep your Listening Currency on a strict budget with such people, and remember to use your discretion filters!

Static

The world is full of static today. And by that I mean the overwhelming amounts of information, media, entertainment, noise and general INPUT that is available to us in this modern world.

There’s so much of it that it can sound like and act like static unless we deliberately adjust our dial, tune in to what we DO want to hear, and listen.

In relation to Listening Currency, it refers to input we don’t need, or don’t want.

1. Too much information

We live in a world today that is just incredibly stuffed with information. There is no way we can consume it all, and we are asking for trouble if we even try.

So don’t.

Tune out the static of the world and only hone in on what is truly meaningful to you.There’s a lot going on out there, a lot more than any one person could ever hope to deal with.

Choose your listening points and let the rest go.

2. Not enough focus

Focus is key. This isn’t just for guarding against the negative, though that’s certainly a part. It can also be about letting positive, but non-relevant, information go as well. It’s about keeping your focus on what you want and need and not allowing distracting information to get you off course.

3. Too much knowledge, not enough doing

There comes a time when you need to stop learning and start taking action. Be aware of when that time comes, and when it does, resist the temptation to learn ‘just one more thing’.

That ‘one more thing’ can keep you in a place of endless education and zero action if you let it.

Don’t let it! Learn when it’s time to keep your educational listening currency in the bank & take action instead.

4. Looking for excuses

Sometimes, we can get so afraid of doing something that we intentionally torpedo ourselves by listening in places or to people that we know will bring us down.

Know when you’re in that danger zone, and learn what you need to do to protect yourself, so you can keep your listening currency in the bank at such times.

Let confidence be your by-word, not fear!

5. Chaotic environments

The world is very large and complicated these days. It can be all too easy to get lost in all the input.

Find ways to protect yourself from all the extraneous noise of modern life so that you can concentrate on what’s important, and spend your listening currency only when it is of value to you to do so.

Three Ways to Keep the Spending and Saving of Listening Currency in Balance

1. Use your discretion at all times. Take in only what you find of value. Be discerning about what you listen to, both in literal input and in what you allow to stay between your ears.

2. Have a balance of activity and rest to let yourself recover and digest your input. You can’t act on, or be in proper discretion about, information that makes no sense to you because you are overwhelmed or overtired.

As you need time to digest your food after a heavy meal, so too do you need time to mentally digest your listening after receiving a lot of information.

Give yourself that time to digest.

3. Plan your listening and your action to also be in balance. Listen and take action, both in turn. Make sure you have enough of both in your life to achieve what you want to achieve in life.

Too much or too little of either one can lead, at best, to a much more circuitous route to your Goals and Dreams.

To Sum Up

Worldviews where you should save your Listening Currency

1. Sovereignty-stealers

2. Negativity-broadcasters

3. Glass-half-empty People

4. Living la Vida Vicarious Types

5. Endless Planners

6. I Dunno People

7. Endless Experts

Listening Static where you should save your Listening Currency

1. Too much information

2. Not enough focus

3. Too much education, not enough action

4. Looking for excuses

5. Chaotic environments

Balancing Spending & Saving

1. Use descretion

2. Balance of activity and rest

3. Balance of listening and action

Next time, we’ll be talking about your own contributions to the Listening Economy.

About the author: Birdy Diamond , aka ‘Question Lady’, blogs about Play, Story, Encouragement, and other such words of a feather over at An Encouraging Bird . Together with her husband, Mike Diamond, aka ‘Explorer Man’, they have created An Encouraging Diploma Kit , a tool for Giving Yourself Permission