I'm All Ears

I watched Headlee’s TED talk a couple years ago, and have been using her tips for the past few years now. They’ve helped me tremendously, and I’ve become a significantly better listener as a result. The most valuable skill I learned from her talk was to listen — it’s a tip I’ve heard hundreds of times, and there’s a good chance it didn’t stick because of her, but rather because of my parents. However, I’d argue it’s the most important on the list. Because I’ve been using some of these skills for years now, I’ve got a couple examples I can share, but most of them just involve listening. 

Just about two months ago, I entered my first relationship. It’s been amazing, better than I imagined, but I don’t want get into the weeds too much on that part ;D. Instead I want to talk about how important communication — and specifically listening — has been to figuring out how much time is too much time. Despite being a senior with an on campus job and a freelance gig, my schedule is significantly lighter than her’s, and while I knew that, I’d forgotten to take that into account when finding time we could hang out, not recognizing that the time I was spending with her was all of her free time, whereas it was just a fraction of mine. Listening to her concerns, and reflecting on this oversight, we were able to find a solution that worked for both of us, which was important as she starts her internship going into the Spring semester. 

When reflecting on regular conversations, I’ve really focused on not pontificating, and it’s something I’m not always the best at. Last week, I went to see Dune with a few fraternity brothers, and I noticed one of my friend’s sweaters was particularly…unique, and started to poke a bit of fun at it, but ultimately took the joke too far, and resulted in a conversation that ended poorly. 

Finally, I’ll talk about a conversation I had yesterday, with a mentor of mine. Cody has been an incredible resource as I’ve begun to get more involved with the color grading process, and beginning to do freelance work, and yesterday he helped me calibrate my monitors, so that I could step up to the next level with my color critical work. Every conversation I’ve had with Cody has been incredibly interesting, and I’ve always learned a ton, and I’ve integrated almost everything we’ve talked about. Ultimately I’ve approached our conversations in a twofold manner, He’s pretty much doing exactly what I want to do professionally, so I’ve been taking every conversation as seriously as possible, so that I can learn as much as possible, and build the relationship further. This industry is a rabbit hole, and it goes so much deeper than I ever imagined, and it’s amazing to have someone who wants to help me learn as much as I want to understand it. He’s also an Omaha local, and only lives like 2 minutes from me, so it’s super easy to meet up for coffee.