I like to listen to non-fiction audio books in my car as I travel back and forth to work. My latest selection was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This is an oldie but goodie, and may have been my first self-help read when it came out in 1990.
One of the points Covey makes really resonated with me this time around. He said: “the biggest communication problem is that we do not listen to understand, but we listen to reply.”*
How often is that the case for you? I know there are times for me when I am formulating my response rather than truly listening to what is being said. Or I can hear the words, but not fully understand what the speaker is trying to communicate.
Covey’s comment has raised consciousness with me to elevate my listening. I hope you, too, will be more intentional in trying to understand the message before automatically trying to reply to it.
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*I may have the exact quote slightly off since I wisely did not take notes while driving!