WEBVTT

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JustLearn. Listen to understand before you prepare your answer. A practical way

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to notice when listening has quietly become waiting for your turn. This

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edition uses synthetic narration.

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Catch the moment you leave the conversation. Imagine a colleague describing why

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a project became difficult. Halfway through their explanation, you remember a similar

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experience and begin arranging your response. They are still speaking, but your

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attention has moved to your own story. You may be silent and

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still no longer be learning much. The aim is not to eliminate

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every passing thought. Notice when your proposed answer begins replacing the actual

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account. Return to a specific detail: which part was difficult, what changed,

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or what the person is asking from you now. A small return

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of attention is more useful than performing an elaborate posture of listening.

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Check the meaning before offering the solution. Try a short reflection that

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can be corrected: ‘It sounds as though the unclear instructions were harder

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than the amount of work. Have I understood that?’ This gives the

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speaker a chance to distinguish what matters from what you have assumed.

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Avoid turning the reflection into a polished speech about how well you

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understand them. Keep it provisional. If they correct you, the conversation has

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worked: you now have information your first response would not have contained.

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You can then ask whether they want suggestions, help with a practical

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task, or simply a chance to finish explaining.

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Let your response be changed by what you heard. There is little

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value in checking someone's meaning if you deliver the same prepared answer

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regardless. Let the clarification affect what comes next. Perhaps your story is

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no longer relevant. Perhaps a question is more useful than advice. Perhaps

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the person has already tried the solution you were about to propose.

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Try this in one ordinary conversation today. Afterwards, write down one thing

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you understood differently because you waited. This is a practice in attention,

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not a technique for making everyone agree with you. The reward is

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a more accurate encounter with another person's experience, including the parts that

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do not resemble your own.

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A question to take with you. What did the other person mean

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that my first response might have missed? First published by JustLearn. Read

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the original article at justlearn dot online.