Hearing the Whisper

Lately when trying to decide if the path I am taking is God's will or my own I've have been having a hard time knowing what God is telling me. In this fast past, noisy world full of techniology and sounds all around us, I wonder how I can hear God.
In the bible it mentions mutliple times of people being spoken to by God but each time he comes as a whisper. To samuel as a small boy it was a soft voice calling to him in the night. To Elijah on the mount God's voice was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire but in a soft whisper. In Isaiah 30:21 it says, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
I wonder how I can know when God is speaking to me and how I can know it is truly him. I try to sit silently and listen after prayer waiting to see if I will hear God or if a voice in my head will bring me some resolution but my mind begins to wander. I am unable to stay focused as my mind begins to wander off and wonder what I am missing out on in the fast passed world as I sit here in silence and the world moves on without me.
While driving home the other day and wondering what my next move should be I turned of my radio and just drove. In the silence I heard nothing, but it gave me no peace. My mind was never easied, I felt more over whelmed and confused by the silence then at peace with it. After trying to sit in silence but feeling more confused by it I began to feel guilty, ashamed even. I was unable to hear God. How could I fix this? What did I need to do to be able to hear him? where had it all gone wrong? It became clear to me to truly know when it is God speaking to you, even amoungest the noise, you must first know God. I realized I could not just come out of know where and say "God tell me what to do" and expect an immediate answer, when for so long I had been ignoring God. I may pray over my food every once in a while, say thank you for helping me find my car keys, go to church every week, but I neglected to get to know God personally. I did not take the time to understand the sound of God's voice.
I can understand what my nephews are saying and even what my patients at work (who have speech troubles) are trying to tell me because I have taken the time to learn their voice. If I had not been patient and sat with them and listened to what they were saying I would have never learned how to hear them. It is the same with God. I need to sit down day by day and take the time to get to know him so I understand the sound of his voice, so I can learn to hear his whisper.