We start listening to the Holy Ghost by reading the scriptures and following the suggestions found in For the Strength of Youth. If we are trying with all of our hearts to be clean and pure, if we are studying the scriptures and praying faithfully, all of a sudden impressions will come to our minds. We might think, "Maybe I should do this to help a widow," or, "Maybe I should do this to do better in this class." That's the way it works, with just little, simple things.
My mother sent me out on my first job: shoveling the sidewalk of two elderly sisters who lived together. And that sidewalk was long. My mother was very smart. She said, "Do it anonymously so that they won't know you did it." I don't know how many times my brothers and I went, but we did it without their knowing. We had to do it early in the morning so we wouldn't be caught. I remember how good I felt. The next time it snowed, my mother didn't have to tell me to go shovel their walk; the Holy Ghost prompted me to go back again.
My brothers and I kept shoveling their sidewalk, and one day they caught us. They became our friends. They even took us to see a semiprofessional baseball team in Idaho Falls. It wasn't much of a trip, maybe 25 miles, but for us it was a big deal. We probably wouldn't have been able to go to a ball game without them.
The Holy Ghost became real to me with that experience. It changed my life. My mother encouraged me to do one good thing, and then the Holy Ghost testified that it was good to keep doing it.
During my junior year in high school the principal asked me to run for vice president of the student body. It was a life-changing experience for me, because I had never considered such a thing before. I didn't say yes at first, but I thought about it, and the Holy Ghost confirmed that it was the right thing for me to do. It scared me, but I ran and won the election. From that time to now, a whole different world has opened up as I gained confidence. Listening to the Holy Ghost helped me know I could become more than I had ever dreamed of becoming.