10 Worst Listening Habits -- and Their Cure

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June 3, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

When you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

- J. Krishnamurti -

10 Worst Listening Habits -- and Their Cure

We spend up to 80% of our waking hours in some form of communication, and 45% of that time is spent listening. And yet, it is the skill in which we have the least training. It isn't surprising, then, that studies show how poor and inefficient we can be as listeners. Apart from lack of explicit training, other reasons factor in. To start with, we think faster than we speak or listen, leaving us with much room for distraction. As a result, the average listener understands and retains only 50% of what is said in a 10-minute presentation. But there is hope. Ralph G. Nichols, long-time professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, identifies the 10 worst listening habits of Americans, and more importantly, ways of turning them into good listening habits. { read more }