How To Listen Effectively

 Among all the four activities of communication; listening, speaking, reading & writing, listening is the one that we do more than other activities. We listen or hear for most of the time duration we are awake. Our ears rest only when we are in a sleeping state. There is a difference between listening and hearing. Hearing is just receiving the sound. We hear some noise, we hear sounds of thud, splash, blast, etc. Listening, on the other hand, is a serious activity. It needs our attention. When we listen to sounds, we understand the meaning, and we react.

To be a good listener and to make others listen, it is important to classify the listeners. There are four types of listeners: active listeners, passive listeners, evaluative listeners & non-listeners. It is very interesting to know about these listeners.

Active listeners are those who are very attentive and they listen to the whole conversation and grab everything. Passive listeners are those who listen to some part of the conversation and ignore the rest. Evaluative listeners are so much engrossed in the conversation that they start thinking over the subject itself in between and miss the further part of the conversation, as they start thinking, but the speaker goes with his flow. And non-listeners are those who only hear but do not listen. They are physically present with the speaker, but mentally they are somewhere else. They bluff that they are listening. They continuously gaze at the speaker, as if they were listening attentively, but in reality, they are receiving sound without meaning.

In which category do you keep yourself?

You are in all the said categories depending on time, environment, your mood, and the nature of the speaker you are listening to. 

Your listening depends on two factors: internal & external. The internal factors could be either physiological or psychological. The external factor is the environment.

Even a sincere listener may lose focus when he or she has some physical problem or when he or she is upset. Moreover, if there is disturbance around, or the speaker's talk is insipid, then there would be a distraction.

Now that you understood the types of listeners and the barriers to listening, you can improve your listening skill. By following these instructions you will definitely be an effective listener.

Tell yourself that nothing is useless in the world. Something could be uninteresting, yet useful for you in the future. Further, focus on the content being delivered; not on the outlook and the outfit of the speaker, and also not on his or her voice modulation. Make proper eye contact with the speaker, and show that you are curious to know or learn. This motivates the speaker. Seeing an interested listener, the speaker tries to give his or her best.

Keep practicing this. And do not forget to let us know whether it works for you or not. Buddham waits for your reply.

Wish You All The Best!!