inside your head outside your head
==
“There’s nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.”
Thornton Wilder
————
Well. There are a couple of things to think about with this quote.
– What we think is not always what everyone thinks
This sounds basic. But, boy oh boy, we forget this – all the frickin’ time. In fact not only do we forget it we actually do so while remembering it.
Huh? What do I mean?
Well, c’mon, how often have you sat there and said ‘no one has been thru what I have been thru and can understand this’ or ‘no one understands how I think’ and, yet, when we look around and assess what people are doing <and thinking> we sit back and go ‘whew, I bet they’re thinking this …’
It’s kind of crazy.
It’s kind of hypocritical.
Suffice it to say whether you think you are normal or think you are abnormal what is happening inside your head is very often different than what is happening in the outside world. In other words … it is very very likely what you think is not what everyone thinks.
Next.
– We should listen more
In business, in personal life, does not matter; we should just listen <without preconceived filters> more often.
I am fairly sure that it was Henry Miller who said “the street howls with the truth.”
Smart man.
Listen to the howls.
So let me share some observations for business.
I am an avid trend watcher, people watcher and behavior studier. I listen by watching. People give you massive cues <clues?> as to what they are thinking and why they do the things they do. You just have to listen to the music of their Life and find the beat of their individual drum. I say that because far <far> too many business people say “we need to do consumer research and hear what people say.”
Well.
You may.
But you may not have to.
In fact. Even if you do the research, if you are not a good listener, every dollar you spend on that research is wasted.
Regardless. Listening isn’t just with your ears, it is also with your nose and eyes and all your feelings.
People’s lives talk.
You may not understand the language immediately, but if you listen closely … really closely … you will understand.
Why is it so hard? Why do you have to listen so closely?
==
“I do not think I’m easy to define. I have a wandering mind.
And I’m not anything that you think I am. “
Syd Barrett
==
People are not easy to define. Most people are difficult to ‘slot.’
Yup.
Sorry about that.
I feel especially sorry for the people who think they are good at assessing people. The majority of them are, well, not. At best they are simply good judges of their own bias.
Anyway. We desperately WANT to slot and segment and cluster people because it makes it easier for us. But as soon as you do you stop listening. Yeah. That bias filter thing again.
Shit.
All I really know is that we need to listen more. There is nothing better for you than eavesdropping on the world on occasion. Ponder.
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