We love to talk about ourselves, but many of us won't listen. Therefore, aspire to become an attentive listener and great at asking questions.
It takes practice and it's hard sometimes. One thing that helps is to be genuinely interested in people, what and how they do, what they know. You will learn a lot and make friends quickly.
But there's at least another benefit. Something that isn't abundant is by definition rare and valuable. It's the same with speaking.
If you're mostly quiet, but speak smartly and when it's important, people will appreciate what you have to say. The only condition is that you have something to say. Derek Sivers says "Shallow rivers are noisy. Deep lakes are silent."
In essence, listening more than speaking is a way of compressing information - you will learn a lot and be able to speak dense thoughts. More signal, less noise.
