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10 Ways to Become a Better Listener and Change Your Life Forever

writelouder.net — Learning to listen — I mean really listen — is the single-most important thing you can do to improve communication in your life. It’s unreal how many varied aspects of our lives are directly and indirectly controlled by our ability (or, most often, inability) to listen. Our relationships run into communication problems everyday...

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lok3n 260 days ago, made popular 259 days ago

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Babblin5, on 11/13/2007, -9/+9Listening is an art form that should be taught to all children. If you know how to REALLY listen, you can cut through the crap, understand others and relate to them, and best of all, learn how NOT to be a sheep.
- thebaron2, on 11/12/2007, -3/+10Is anyone else tired of all the sheep/sheeple references yet?
  
  It's a good article and an invaluable skill that 99+% of people probably need to work on. Enough said.
- mokayogi, on 11/11/2007, -0/+5Says the guy who's profile name is Babblin.
- Elum, on 11/10/2007, -0/+4hmm... for some reason it seems like you've missed the point of this article...
peanutbutter69, on 11/10/2007, -9/+3Well, listening is taught at a young age. parents should listen to their children instead of setting them up with games and tv. long live communication.

http://noninedaywonder.blogspot.com
- Modulo, on 11/13/2007, -1/+2Yes, hooray for communication.
  
  http://noone.cares.about.your.*****.blog.com
paulg2000, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2This is great advice about something that can be quite hard to do. We're all so busy, it's not often we take the time to really listen to what people are saying.
whojaybe, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2yes, definitely a big difference between "listening" and actually "hearing" the message being said...
twgarrett, on 11/10/2007, -2/+2thank you~
- BudgingMidget, on 11/10/2007, -1/+0nice wave
ozymandias2012, on 11/10/2007, -1/+1Definitely something more people need to do better.
prophet3point0, on 11/10/2007, -2/+2shut your mouth when i'm talking to you
aditya5000, on 11/12/2007, -4/+23Great article...I'll forward it to my wife.
chucali, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2I know people that just talk non stop and never listen. Getting out of a conversation with someone like that is not fun.
GoingPostal, on 11/11/2007, -1/+17I'm sorry, were you saying something?
hpot, on 11/10/2007, -2/+2listening is overrated.
greeninoregon, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2This is so amazingly true. Especially about the details. It's really fun to remember details about people, and then to bring them up casually. I work at a grocery store, and I can always see how people react when I mention something about the last time I saw them there. They like it, they like me, and they like coming to the store more.
- sockpuppets, on 11/11/2007, -1/+5Wow, Vaseline and a jug of wine again Mrs. Meyer? You sure go through these things quick!
  - greeninoregon, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2Haha.
    The lady bought 200 dollars worth of artisan bread that we sell from local bakeries. The last time she'd come in I was like "damn, that's a ***** of bread." She said her husband is from holland, and since they'd been married she hasn't had anything else but bakery-fresh bread. She just buys a pile and freezes it until she needs it.
DesertDude, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2This is mostly true, and listening does make you popular and somewhat trustworthy. Just don't make the mistake of listening too much and talking too little. That's what I did a while back. Then people thought I was incredibly interested in every little thing they had to say and that it was ok to interrupt me when I wanted to say something. Later on I had some vicious "interruption battles" that forced them to listen when it was my time to talk. Now I kinda think it was all a mistake and that it's better to be rude and just ignore people.
gdehms, on 11/10/2007, -1/+1I think I'll be honest (#10), I don't think that this is life changing.
facelesscoward, on 11/13/2007, -2/+4some posts that may be related

Last Words to Live By
All Drugs Should Be Legalized, etc.
*Famous Castrations in History*

The advice all looked good, but now I'm not so sure.
simplistics06, on 11/10/2007, -1/+0f listening there should be less talking
thomasmck, on 11/11/2007, -3/+3Sorry, did you say something?
senatebuddy, on 11/10/2007, -1/+2Listening is not my problem, I'll listen for hours to everything you have to say, but I can never reciprocate
fernz, on 11/10/2007, -1/+0Great article - now if we could only get every Politician, CEO and Journalist in the world to read and understand it...
crapmatic, on 11/10/2007, -0/+3It's interesting how all of these things are diametrically opposite to the typical qualities of a mid-level manager at a typical US corporation. A reflection of the Peter Principle? I wonder.
HappyLilFox, on 11/10/2007, -1/+1Great article... I'm printing, highlighting and putting up on my fridge!
AttilaD, on 11/10/2007, -2/+1TLDNR
PunkFenixJT, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1What?
andywebb95, on 11/10/2007, -0/+2Now if they only could come out with an article on how to be a better reader......
Archimboldo, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1Listening is a prerequisite to understanding, which should inform our speaking. And yes, sometimes people just need a confessor or listener. But even more neglected than listening is true speaking. I am inclined to think that bad speaking is just as big a problem as not listening. Maybe even a bigger problem.

Few people know how to say what they truly mean because they don't really know themselves and how to articulate what is really motivating them. Books on listening are rather commonplace in pop psychological circles. True, their techniques are not practiced as often as they should be. But I would rather see politicians take some courses in honest speaking and being courageously frank and real than courses in listening.
PueSi, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1I'm pretty sure a lot of diggers here forwarded this to their girlfriends/wifes, i sure as hell did.
greenehawke, on 11/11/2007, -0/+1yes. a great article about HOW to listen. Even more than sending this to our significant others, friends and families... we need to forward it to our elected legislators. I suspect a LOT of those folks do not have the necessary skills.
yemiteliyadu, on 11/19/2007, -0/+0If I had this advice earlier I could have saved my marriage, my job, my life, ... Seriously though, it is excellent all-around advice. Thanks.
syberdave, on 01/01/2008, -0/+1New URL: http://www.writelouder.net/communication/2007/11/h ...
crossers, on 07/22/2008, -0/+0oh great article. listening I can say, that listening is some kind of art. and not everyone can listen. You must have talent of listen...
http://www.shpe-sac.org
http://www.ocflex.com/
http://www.trgovinca.org
http://www.chasr.org/
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10 Ways to Become a Better Listener and Change Your Life Forever

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