Tips to Help You Keep Your Focus While Listening

If you’re someone who likes sharing your experiences or offering advice, here are some tips to slow down your brain and help it focus solely on what the speaker is trying to say.

• Since we tend to think faster than people speak, a good way to minimize the distractions in our minds is to identify the speaker’s key points while listening. When there is a pause, state, “What I’m hearing is …”
• If someone seems hesitant to continue, rather than begin offering advice, encourage them to give more information and explore the topic further by simply saying, “Tell me more” or “That seems like a really difficult situation.”
• Before offering advice, ask questions to make sure you understand the problem or issue the other person is actually addressing. “So the microphone made that noise throughout the speech? What did the audience do?”
• If you’re tempted to jump in and share your own experience and story, pretend that you’ll be quizzed on what the other person is saying to prevent your brain from jumping ahead and formulating your own response.