Observe, Observe, Observe

"You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Berra

You can learn an enormous amount by paying attention to what's around you, at work, at home, in conversation. A colleague, a boss, a competitor, a random exchange in a hallway. The interactions happening around you every single day carry more information than most people ever pick up on.

Some of what you observe will deliver a life lesson. Some will answer a question you've been sitting with. Some will just be genuinely entertaining.

But observation is more than what you look at. It's reading the finer details inside a bigger picture: what's said, how it's said, the facial expressions, the dynamic, the energy in the room. You can gather far more from a scene than just the words exchanged.

A few things worth watching for when someone is speaking: Is the person answering the same question differently to different people? Does eye contact shift or disappear with certain individuals or certain topics? Do facial expressions change based on who's in the room? Does the tone give anything away? Is the response short, rehearsed, or improvised?

Look with genuine interest and curiosity. Build yourself a more detailed, more accurate picture of what's actually happening.

Observation takes practice: watching, listening, asking the right questions, and training yourself to notice depth, nuance, and texture in what's right in front of you.

And you can absolutely have fun with it.