Our brains process information at a rather quick clip—quicker than the clip at which most people speak. This presents a problem: developing a bias, one that threatens to taint everything else a person might say.

Effective listening skills demand that you suspend your bias until a person is finished communicating. This is easier to do when reading, since you can’t interrupt a paragraph, and when writing people have more time to organize their thoughts. However, interrupting someone is only half the problem. You may not interrupt them, but you may have stopped listening to them, hung up on a certain point. It’s a habit we all have, and one we all need to overcome in order to be an effective listener.

Learning to suspend your bias prevents you from interrupting others while they’re talking; it develops patience and contributes to good manners.

Practice suspending your bias by watching speeches or press conferences, in particular by people whose opinions you know to differ from your own.

Listening Habits to Avoid

    * Looking around and not maintaining eye contact

    * Overreacting and interrupting

    * Jumping in to finish what someone is saying

    * Dominating conversation

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