Listening is the most important aspect of communication.before learning to become a good speaker we should first learn to become a good listener. Effective listening helps to build a relationship. It helps to understand each other better. It helps to avoid the interpersonal conflict.
Nowadays nobody cares about others, because nobody actually wants to listen to others. If you want to develop your communication skills, you must work to improve your listening.
Here are a few important tips which can help you to improve your listening.
1.Learn to live in the moment
involvement is the key. To listen to others properly you need to be fully involved in the topic being spoken. Have you experienced any incident when you were speaking to someone and he was not paying attention to you, You may have got a sense that he is immersed in some other thoughts? Yes, It happens to everyone many times, when the person to whom we are speaking is unable to listen because physically He/she is present here but in his thoughts, he is somewhere else.
So to be a good listener you need to show your presence. You need to be in the present moment. when you are listening to someone you should not get distracted by random thoughts in your mind.If you are listening to somebody you should have only the topic being spoken in your mind and nothing else.It is hard to do but with practice, you can develop this habit to be in the present moment.
2. Try to understand the situation of others.
To listen to someone properly you need to put yourself in others shoes. When you are listening to somebody try to understand the life of the speaker. From where he comes, what is his struggle and experiance, why he is speaking in this manner.Once you begin to understand the speaker listening comes to you effortlessly.
3. Try to note the key points
It happens to everyone that when someone speaks we listen with full concentration for 1 or 2 minutes. After this, our mind begins to distract us in other thoughts. To avoid this situation noting down the key points and communicating it to the speaker can be a helpful strategy. Interacting with the speaker dvelops our interest and involvement. You can note down the key points and after the speaker finishes his talk you can ask him to clarify any point you missed in the speech. This effort from your side will be highly appreciated.
4. Keep an open mind
It is the habit of our mind to judge and interpret the words according to our belief system. It is the main hurdle in effective listening. When you are listening to someone, just listen his point of view and dont try to make judgements and impose your thoughts on the words of others.keep your mind free of any procastrinations and dont try to jump on the conclusions while listening to someone.
5. Develop Curiosity
Develop the attitude of learning. If you want to learn then only you can listen to others properly. You must have a curiosity to gain some knowledge from someones experiance. Listening to others is an oppurtunity to gain something new. If you have a curious mind then only you will try to listen to others properly. Take listening as an oppurtunity for self development. Everyone in this world has something to add value to your learning and if you listen properly and actively you can make yourself better.
So next time when you listen to someone to keep these point in mind and your listening will become better.
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