The Power of Listening: How Awareness Gives You the Upper Hand
March 7, 2025 marks my third anniversary at my current job, and I want to reflect on a skill that has shaped both my professional and personal life. One of the most game-changing skills you can develop—especially when you’re intentional about it—is listening. Not just waiting for your turn to speak, but truly engaging in the exchange, unpacking the other person’s thoughts, and hearing what they’re really saying.
People will misinterpret you. Others will truly understand you. Either way, listen. This reveals more than just their stance—it exposes their thinking process and highlights gaps in reasoning on all sides of the conversation. Even when someone is convinced they’re right, listening carefully gives you insight into how they arrived at that conclusion.
People will misinterpret you. Others will truly understand you. Either way, listen.
Listen, even when you’re interrupted—but also know when to step in with clarity. Patience and emotional intelligence matter, but so does speaking up at the right moment. If you never clarify your points, misunderstandings will persist. The key is knowing when to interject without shutting the other person down.
If people underestimate you, listening gives you the advantage. Most people aren’t truly paying attention; they’re just waiting to respond. But when you stay aware and patient, you gain a clearer picture of what’s actually happening. People say exactly what they mean—if they wanted to say or do something differently, they would.
Pay attention to not just words but emotions, reactions, and perceptions. People’s interpretations tell you a lot about how they see the world and how they navigate conversations. Understanding this makes you a stronger, more effective communicator—one who listens, thinks, and responds with intention.
But when you stay aware and patient, you gain a clearer picture of what’s actually happening.
Just because I work in tech, I’ll leave you with a bold and funny analogy. At the end of the day, not everyone processes information the same way. Some people operate like a high-speed M3 MacBook, multitasking effortlessly and adapting on the fly. Others? They’re still running on a Pentium core from 2005—processing slow, overheating when challenged, and occasionally freezing mid-conversation. Knowing who you’re dealing with makes all the difference.