“Cover your mouth with your hands, then sit on your hands.”

– a tried and true method for staying out of impulsive or compulsive trouble.

I used to have a note taped to my desk, as a reminder to me.  “Shut up and be nice,” it said.  It worked as long as I didn’t have my desk covered in papers.

“I write lots of notes in meetings. That’s how I keep my mouth shut.”

– Adam S., marketing consultant

When you were in second grade (or high school, or grad school), were you one of those hand-in-the-air “ooh! ooh! I know! call on me!” kids?

Apparently, that kind of thing doesn’t always go away.

There’s a quote somewhere about “you have two ears and one mouth so you can listen twice as much as you talk.” Hard sometimes to do in meetings where the things your colleague (or clients or staff) are saying keep giving you ideas you want to share.

But, obviously, sometimes you need to let the other person keep talking. Even if you’re only half-listening. Because half-listening but looking like you’re listening is almost always more politically welcome than half-listening but obviously not listening because you’re talking!

So use your pencil. Write down what you really want to say so it gets out of your body (where it’s making you twitch for however long it’s confined there). Then, later, you can share your brilliant thoughts when they’re done talking and finally ready to hear what you have to say.

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related: (1) I now know that when I want Adam to listen to me, I should hand him a notepad and a pen.