Do you listen?

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply”. – Stephen Covey

I’ll get to my question on listening but I want to address it in the context of life skills…

I have a curiosity, interest, passion for life skills.  I will offer some examples: personal (life purpose), parenting (positive discipline), money management (debt & credit), career (job shaping) and spirituality (how to pray).  We probably didn’t learn these things in school and if we did, we learned them at the wrong time to be useful or have forgotten them.  If we’re lucky, we have parents or employers that guided us.

So to my question, “do you listen”?  If I ask this simple question I suspect most of you would say “yes”.  But if I offer a skill definition for listening with three distinct parts:  “I heard your words, I understand your meaning and you know I understand” then I suspect you might say that this life skill could be improved.  Using this definition, you can now better assess your listening skills.  Life skill development starts with what we need to know (in this case, active listening) and what it looks like (you know I understand).

Do you have an opportunity to improve this important life skill?

Where does life skill development fit for you or your family?  Do you have a particular skill development interest or need?

 

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