Being able to understand people is the greatest asset anyone can have. In their book, "Becoming a Person of Influence", John Maxwell and Jim Dornan remind us that being able to understand others can have a positive impact on more than just your success in business. It can impact every area of your life.

How can we become better at understanding the people in our life?

It starts with communication. Often when we think about communication, we focus on talking. Yet the most powerful aspect of communication is not talking. It's listening. More than anything, most of us yearn to be really heard.

When we feel that the person we're with is really listening, we feel respected. If you listen with care and ask questions to make sure you understand, you will develop a greater understanding of the people in your life. By listening with care you can learn what motivates a person. You can even anticipate how they may react to a situation. You can influence them in a positive way.

Many of the conflicts that arise among people stem from their lack of understanding of one another. Most of us know this is true because we've experienced it in our lives.

If we know how important it is to understand each other, why is it such a struggle? Maxwell and Dornan list a number of reasons in their book:

• fear
• self-centredness
• failure to appreciate differences
• failure to acknowledge similarities

They also give us five key ideas to help turn things around:

• Everybody wants to be somebody.
• Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
• Everybody needs somebody.
• Anybody can be somebody when somebody understands and believes in them.
• Anybody who helps somebody influences a lot of bodies.

Take a moment and reflect on each of these ideas. They could come in handy the next time you're trying to understand someone. It could change your frame of reference. As our lives grow more and more busy, it’s important that we take the time to understand each other. Get to know the people in your life. Be a positive influence in their world.

There is a quote I keep on my office wall. I learned it at a very young age, and it has always had a huge impact on me:

 "To the world you might just be one person, but to one person you just might be the world." Anonymous.

It starts with you. You've got this!

Your friends,
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