I’m reading the book – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. This is one of the books that the whole universe acknowledges as a landmark work. It is a highly recommended book for any self development program. I had this book in my to-read list for quite some time.

Coming to the topic of this post, in this book the author explains how we force upon others things or actions without keeping in mind our motive. He explains how typically people don’t listen to others in a conversation. The listener starts forming the reply in mind even while the other person is talking. This shows that we are more interested in our response than the other person’s point of view.

I asked myself this question “Am I thinking of my response even before my speaker completes?”, at first my response was – “I don’t do this. I am very good listener”. The hell I was. Later I observed that I was forming my replies in my head as soon as the other person started speaking. This was as good as interrupting the speaker before he/she can complete.

So I have accepted the reality that I am not a good listener and I’ve consciously decided to “listen” to my speaker. Only when I have assimilated my speaker’s point of view I will give my response. I know this will not be a easy change on my behavior, nevertheless I shall try my best.