Listener owns the show.

The word ‘game’ is a homonym, a word which has multiple meanings. It would mean a different thing if you were in a forest for a hunting trip than if you were at a LAN party.

The language we use is vague, a game of ‘hide and seek.’

Everything we try to describe through language is a crude simplification of the reality, just as a spec is a speculation about what the real thing should be.

Whether we speak of writing, speaking or thinking, our language describes an unlimited amount of possibilities.

The listener gives a meaning to the message.

The listener can do that by guessing or gathering information relevant to the context. For professionals, the ownership of interpretations is a prerequisite for success. Wow. There were a few sentences with lots of long ambiguous words.

Curiosity and attention are among our most valuable working skills.

In software testing, for example, it is our responsibility to gather the relevant information so we can later play our game of bug hunting to its full potential. How can we produce world-class results if we don’t know enough about the context?

So we need to deploy curiosity by asking questions and attention to download the information conveyed.

The ownership is not limited to dialogue only. The interpretation is also at the mercy of other things like our metabolism, or even the current weather. Of course, the mechanism is both subtle and subconscious.

Accepting the ownership and recognizing the factors that influence our interpretation changes the game.

You not only have the power but the responsibility to make a better choice. You give meaning to everything you process. So, what should you choose?!