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2017 Word of the Year: Listen


This post was inspired by my friend Beth's post about her word for 2017: hope. If you haven't read her post, check it out here. She argues that we have to earn our hope by working for it every day. 

I just finished taking TTI Success Insight's TriMetrix HD, an assessment provided through Wayne RESA's Aspiring Administrator Academy that participants were warned may provide some difficult to digest information about our habits, beliefs, and priorities. While reading my results this morning, this summary of some of my habits hit home:

Kevin may lose interest in what others are saying if they ramble or don't speak to the point. His active mind is already moving ahead.

After sitting in my chair and thinking about all the times that others talk to me and I'm already envisioning their ideas in my head or thinking about how I think about my responses before a person's even finished, I know that this is something I can work on. 

My word to guide 2017? Listen. It should probably be paired with "slow down" and "appreciate." 

Just like in classrooms, there is value in silence and wait time. I will try to slow down, to hear what a person is saying and isn't saying, and consider more of what they are saying than what I want to say in return.

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