I heard everything anybody ever told me. I used none of it until I was 21.

As an adolescent, I heard people talk, a lot. I made a lot of mistakes, mostly because I never listened. It took me until I was 21 to learn to listen.

A good friend of mine said this once during a debate: “I hear you talking.” — Ed Live. At the time, I understood what he meant immediately.

The words are coming out, I hear them, but they don’t make sense, nor do they hold weight.

Still though, listening is a choice. Listen to those around you, even when you think they may not provide the best advice.

The Cost of Not Listening

I spent the first two years of high school not giving a shit. I felt I could make it up eventually, especially since I thought the first two years didn’t count.

The last two years, I worked harder than I ever thought I would have to in high school. Lesson learned? Not for a kid like me. Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.

That created a bad habit, and it followed me to college.

Same beat, on and on, until I was 21 and realized I don’t have a lot of time to screw around. I need to get shit done.

Then I Chose to Listen

Everything everyone had told me until that point just sat dormant. I heard what people would say, I would take it to heart, but I never actively listened. “What Great Listeners Actually Do” — Zenger and Folkman’s research says good listening isn’t silence, it’s a two-way exchange.

Ed once told me to dress the part in order to land the job, even though I felt my work ethic and intelligence should shine through. I adjusted, and the offers started to roll in.

My mother and grandmother told me to focus on school. I returned to school multiple times to finally land on the degree I was always destined to earn — Mechanical Engineering.

While in school, we toured a biotech company called CareDx. The teacher said, “If I were any of you, I would not leave here without asking about an internship.” I asked. I was hired less than a year later, and I now have 13 years in biotech.

I was told to never stop growing, never stop developing. Every setback has led to a great comeback, because I refuse to stay idle.

Perpetually, the listening led to wins. So I naturally began to listen more.

My brother Marcel and my guy Will used to say, “You’re the smartest dumb person I know.”

It never made sense, until I started listening.

| My Adaptation of the 4 Laws of Atomic Habits – Latrelle |