Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Improve this one trait, and you can improve every aspect of your life. Hello and welcome to the Warrior Kings podcast. I'm your host, Michael Riggs, here to assist you in living a fully optimized, leveled up life as a man. So again, welcome. Welcome to the Warrior Kings podcast. If you're new here, my name is Michael Riggs. I'm a full time author, artist, and entrepreneur, husband and father of five, and I teach men all over the world how to live fully optimized lives. So if that's something you're into, definitely subscribe to this channel, subscribe to this podcast, and stick around if you want to level up every aspect of your life as a man. That's what we do here every week. So it's really, really good to talk to you guys today. We just came out of hurricane Helene. Helene Halene, I don't know. And that was pretty crazy. But the sun is shining. It's still a little bit windy outside, but that's okay. It's a beautiful day, and I'm feeling great. We have electricity. I'm sorry for all of you who have not had electricity. I feel like that's a terrible thing whenever that happens, because I've been there before. Being without power is quite terrible. Today we're going to be getting into the second level of my book, warrior, unlocking masculinity, manliness, and the warrior spirit within. And this episode is going to expand on that chapter. If it's your first time here, I'm in a mini series right now where I'm going through those levels of that book. It's a seven level book. Those seven levels are the primal, the listener, the wise man, the lover, the protector, the warrior, and the king. And it's all about what it means to be a man and how to live a fully optimized life as a man. And this series is for everyone. Like, even if you never read that book, you're going to get some valuable information here. So I'm glad you're here today. And if you have read that book, this is just going to expand on that. And if you missed last week's episode, we touched on the primal, which is the first level of that book, and accepting and embracing the primal, wild, warrior, spirit self that exists in us all as men, and how to channel that in the right ways. If you're getting this on YouTube, welcome to the YouTube channel. Welcome to the podcast. If you're not subscribed to that YouTube channel, swing over there and do that, because we want to get that off the ground. The podcast is growing exponentially. Those numbers rise every single day. We're reaching men all over the world with these powerful messages. But that YouTube channel is kind of sad. But, hey, I'm glad to be doing this. You know, I'm not out for numbers and mega numbers of subscribers and views and all that. You know, I'm mainly a podcaster. So I'm glad that I'm reaching people with the audio podcast, but I do want to branch out, you know what I'm saying? I also have a TikTok page. Now, if TikTok is your thing, that doesn't sound very manly to me, but I guess it's a part of our culture now, you know, our society. I do have a TikTok, if you like those short form swipey swipe videos. That's Michael Riggs official, and you can follow me on there. And let's dive right into it. Every opportunity to listen is an opportunity, opportunity to learn. If you're not listening, ultimately you're not learning. And if you're not learning, you will never be the wise man. Everybody knows one of those guys, you know, the guy who's the loudest in the room. He thinks he knows everything about everything. He's constantly waiting for his turn to speak. He's cutting people off in conversation, interjecting, acting like everyone else is stupid. Now, I hope that's not you, but here's the hard the loudest man in the room is often the dumbest man in the room and the quietest man. He's usually the most dangerous man in the room. Why listen more than they speak? And that's exactly why they are wise. They don't just listen passively or tune people out. They listen intently. They study your face and your body language, and they listen to every word that you say. They take all of that in, and then they make their best assumption based on what they have learned from the content of your words, combined with the wisdom that they have attained over time, then and only then, do they respond. Now, notice I said what they have learned from the content of your words. Because every opportunity to listen is an opportunity to learn. Even if you think the person youre talking to is a complete idiot, being right and knowing more than someone else, thats entirely irrelevant. You see, unintelligent people have the constant need to prove that theyre right or that they know more than other people. If youre the guy whos constantly just waiting for your turn to talk, cutting people off just to be heard. If youre loud and boastful and you always feel the need to be right. That kind of behavior will turn people away from you, and it will turn mature, masculine men away from you because you have nothing to offer their growing wisdom and character. If you dont have the ability to simply listen, you will push everyone away, including the people closest to you, like your lover, for example. Get rid of that need to be right. Get rid of the need to prove that you know more, and then just listen. Which brings me to an important concept, discernment. Let's say you attend a seminar and the guy on stage is dropping bombs of wisdom and you're blown away by everything that he's saying. You're scribbling down notes and your eyes are wide with amazement at all of these new ideas that he's presenting to you. But then out of nowhere, he starts talking about how this wisdom came from aliens and that they're going to be arriving on earth soon or something like that. In that moment, you might be taken aback a little bit and be like, wow, this guy's a total idiot. So what do you do? Do you just walk out of the seminar and convince yourself that you learned absolutely nothing? No, because remember, every opportunity to listen is an opportunity to learn. Discernment is how you separate useful information from useless information. You might decide that you still learned a ton from that talk, even if the speaker's ideas about extraterrestrials and getting these divine messages from them are a bit out there. You don't need to be right about everything when you have the ears of a listener. So sure, you might think, wow, this guy's nuts. But that doesn't mean that you didn't learn something. He might have been right about some things and your mind was blown by those things and you learned from them whether he got them from an alien or not. You know what I'm saying? Maybe you learned something valuable from his points and you can separate that from the useless information. That's discernment. Maybe you even learned something about quirky human psychology. Either way, you gained some insight, and that's really, really the point. And you can approach any conversation in the same way. You listen to the content of their words. You decide whats valuable and then you discard the rest. But if youre never listening, youre never learning. Now, I know most of us focus on talking and getting our point across, but let me tell you, mastering the art of listening can take you to the next level in your relationships, in your career, and in your personal growth. Stick with me because im about to break down the top ten benefits of active listening. Lets get into it. Benefit one, improved communication. Heres the deal. When youre really there are no more of those what did you say moments. You stop guessing what people mean and just start knowing. Conversations get way smoother because you're not just waiting for your turn to speak. You're actually listening and you're actually understanding. And that also means way fewer miscommunications, whether it's with your employees, your partner, or your friends. Benefit two, stronger relationships. Do you want to build real trust with people? It begins with listening. When you actually pay attention to what someone is saying, they feel valued. It shows that you're not just hearing them, but you're with them. And when people feel like they matter, relationships, whether its with your lady, your family, or your friends, tend to get way stronger. Benefit three, increased empathy. Empathy is a key part of being a strong, well rounded man. Active listening helps you connect with what someone is really feeling. Youre not just hearing words, youre picking up on their vibe and their emotions. That deeper understanding helps you relate better. It helps you offer better support, and it helps you just be a better man overall. Benefit four, conflict resolution. Heres where active listening becomes a superpower, handling conflict. And raise your hand if you don't have any conflict in your life. Yeah, okay, that's impossible. Instead of reacting or trying to prove that you're right, you listen. When people feel heard. It takes the heat out of the argument. Suddenly you're not fighting against each other. You're figuring out a solution together. And that's how real men handle problems. Benefit five, boosted productivity in your career. Listening is a major key to getting things done right. You know how frustrating it is when people don't listen to instructions or ideas? Active listening stops that. You get clearer on whats needed and you avoid costly mistakes. Whether youre on a team or youre managing people or just grinding solo, listening helps you stay locked in and productive. Benefit six, enhanced learning. Real growth starts with being a student of life. And if youre not listening, youre not learning. When you engage fully and you actually listen to others, whether its a mentor or a podcast like this one, or even a friend, you absorb more knowledge. You soak in more knowledge, and thats how to level up by learning and improving every day. Bit seven, better leadership. Heres the thing about leadership. Its not just about giving orders. Great leaders listen. When people see that you actually care about their input, they feel respected. And that respect turns into loyalty. And loyalty builds a strong team. If you want to lead in life. Whether its at work, in your community, or even in your own household. Start by listening. First. Benefit eight, strengthened emotional intelligence. Most guys dont even think about emotional intelligence, but its huge. Active listening helps you tune into whats going on emotionally with the people around you. You become more aware of not only their feelings, but your own, too. And when you can handle emotions, yours and others, you can handle anything life throws at you. Benefit nine, improved problem solving. One of the biggest mistakes that we can make as men is thinking that we need to have all of the answers right away. But the truth is, good solutions come when you take the time to listen to all sides. Whether youre tackling a problem at work or dealing with personal issues, listening opens you up to better ideas and smarter strategies and benefit ten higher. Trust and loyalty. Do you want people to trust you? Do you want to build loyalty in your team? Be the guy who listens. When people know that you're really hearing them out, they'll trust you more and they will stick with you. This is huge in relationships and friendships and especially in business, dude, trust is earned, and active listening is one of the best ways to build it. Active listening isn't just a soften skill. It's one of the most powerful tools that you can have in your arsenal. Whether it's in your relationships, your job, or your own self development. Listening with intent will set you apart from most men because most men never listen. And if you are serious about leveling up, this is a skill that you must master. No, it was years ago that I was dating my wife, and she had come out of a very long relationship, and I had been in a very long relationship, and so we kind of knew what we didn't want. Like, we learned that, right? Like, that's. I was in a terrible relationship. That's exactly what I don't want. Right. One night, we were hanging out on my couch, like, cuddled up, you know, and she was talking about her job and telling me about life, what was going on in her life. And she stopped out of nowhere and said, wow, you actually listened to me. I'm not used to that. And that was so important to her. And it was interesting to me because I was making such a point to actually listen to her, to look into her eyes, to hear every word that she was saying, to actually react and, you know, give expressions to what she was saying. Because I had learned from my previous relationship that not listening can get you into all sorts of trouble. Like we were talking about before, communications, misunderstandings, conflict resolution issues. You know, like, when you're not listening, you're not connecting with that person in the proper way. And so I had learned from my mistakes, from the past to actually listen to people. And this is one of the reasons that I believe that our relationship and our marriage is so strong, because we actually take the time to listen to each other and connect with each other. And I actually make a point to listen, right? So I can't stress this enough, the importance of listening. And, like, I touched on, too. Like, if you want to be a leader in business, if you want to start a business, or maybe you have a business, I'm telling you, listening will level that up so much. You need to listen to your people, listen to your team, listen to their ideas, their innovations. Take them seriously. Like, you don't have to know everything about everything or have all the answers. And of course, you want it to be done your way. Right? You are. You're the boss. But listening and considering all options as a wise man would, and discarding what information is useless and keeping what information is useful can level up your entire situation with your business and your leadership. Because, like I said, it builds trust, it builds loyalty. These people will want to stick around with you because you are a totally awesome dude. You actually listen to them and consider what they have to say. They're not just talking behind your back, being like, he's such an asshole and he's driving this company into the ground because he won't listen to our ideas, right. It's super important to listen, like, in every aspect of your life, especially growing in wisdom. Like, if you want to someday be that older man who's teaching the young guys how to live their life and offering them guidance and wisdom, you have to know all the information, right, in order to teach it to them. So you. You need to be a absorbing information, absorbing wisdom along the way. And the way that you do that is by listening. If you're not listening, ultimately you're not learning. And if you're not learning, you will never be the wise man. So that's what I got for you guys today. I hope that you got something out of this episode. I hope that this inspired you in some way to level up this aspect of your life. And speaking of the wise man, next episode is on the chapter the wise man. Again, those seven levels are the primal, the listener, the wise man, the lover, the protector, the warrior, and the king. And we're going to touch on all of those in the coming episodes. So get out there, man. Start listening. Level up every aspect of your life. I love you. I'm proud of you, and there are great things in store for you in this life. A life of overflowing abundance awaits you as soon as you step outside of your comfort zone and decide to change and be the person that you know that you've always been meant to be, that super awesome, leveled up version of yourself, fully, fully optimized. As soon as you decide to do that, a life of abundance, overflowing abundance awaits you. Thanks for listening, guys, and I'll catch you on the next one. Bye.
