“You’re short on ears and long on mouth.” John Wayne
Sometimes my mom would tell one of my siblings “just stop talking.” The rest of us could all see the impending car wreck that would have been highly entertaining but have numerous negative consequences. And generally they wouldn’t stop talking and say something stupid and we’d all face the fallout.
Maybe it was because we were teenagers with too much energy and not enough experience.
Maybe we were feeling our oats and needed to be reminded who was the boss.
We had yet to learn that youth and enthusiasm will always lose to age and experience.
Or we just needed to grow up.
But I learned something that has helped me in business for decades: you have two eyes, two ears, and one mouth and they are meant to be used in that proportion. It’s a good ratio for long-term success.