​Good listeners are extremely popular because they give the people they’re listening to the very thing they’re longing for—an opportunity to tell their story. Good listeners understand that no one wants to hear their story. On the other hand, everyone else is dying to tell their story to someone who cares. So, if you take the time to provide people with opportunities to tell their stories, you’ll not only make their day; you’ll begin to attract people toward you like a magnet. As the French writer, Jules de Goncourt put it, “Never speak of yourself to others; make them talk about themselves instead; therein lies the whole art of pleasing. Everybody knows it, and everyone forgets it.” The lesson here is that if you make it a point to become a good listener, you will also become a very popular individual.