Being A Good Listener – The Top Five Traits To Have

If you want to become a good listener there are certain traits and skills you will need to learn. Listening is a great skill to develop and it can improve all areas of your life. People love to talk and are always looking for someone to listen to them. 

The Importance of Listening to Other’s Viewpoints

When you disagree with someone, likely, you don’t want to waste your time listening to their viewpoints. Although listening to something you disagree with isn’t always fun, it is important to your future for several reasons. 

# You Will Learn Something New

When you take the time to listen to someone else and their viewpoints, you are exposed to thoughts that don’t exist in your mind and perspectives you may not have considered before. And even though you may not like what you are hearing, you often learn new things by listening to others. This also helps expand your mind to be more accepting of new thoughts, which could help you be more successful in the future. 

# Listening Helps You Develop Patience.

As previously mentioned, being able to sit there and listen to someone you don’t agree with is difficult. You will have to have patience.

“Sometimes, what a person needs is not a brilliant mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens”.

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And if you haven’t already developed the necessary patience for this task, just the practice of listening to others more often will help you to develop it. If you find you are struggling with the task, try to remember you are listening to learn something new. You can also listen with the intent to ask questions. This will help you focus on the words the other person is saying more carefully.

# You Expand Your Network

People love when others listen to what they have to say, it makes them feel important. When you take the time to listen to someone else, even though you may not agree with what they are saying, you make that person feel better about themselves. And this can help you make a new friend or connection.

This can help you on your path to success in the future as you never know when you may need to know someone in a certain field or area of study. Besides, expanding your network of people is always a good idea.

Overall, listening to someone else who has an opposing viewpoint from yourself will never be an easy task. But when you resolve to listen to someone else, this helps teach you new things and further develops your patience. 

Not only that, but it also helps you to grow your network which could provide unmeasured value to you in your future. Thus, it’s time to learn how to listen to others sooner rather than later if you want to succeed in life. 

The Top Five Traits of a Good Listener

If you want to become a good listener there are certain traits and skills you will need to learn. Listening is a great skill to develop and it can improve all areas of your life. People love to talk and are always looking for someone to listen to them. So what makes us a good listener?

Here are 5 essential traits:

1. Understand Their Point of View

When listening to someone your goal should be to understand their point of view. Listen to everything they say before forming your own opinion, and remember that you do not necessarily have to agree with them. Everyone deserves, and should form, their own opinions on various topics. Try to look at their point of view and ask yourself if they might be the person who is right. 

2. Pay Attention

Paying attention is the next trait. If you don’t pay attention you will miss out on important information. Always be aware of what is going on with the person who is speaking, and don’t forget to pay attention to your surroundings. 

3. Make Eye Contact

The action of making eye contact with the person who is speaking, shows them that you are paying attention. If you start looking around you, you are giving them the impression that you are not interested, or have become bored. 

4. Allow Them To Finish Talking

Allow the person to finish talking. This often takes a little patience, but it can be helpful for both sides. First the person talking can vent their opinions or frustrations. Secondly it helps the listener to fully understand the issue at hand. 

5. Think Before Responding

A good listener will also think before responding back. Again they often ask what if this person is correct in their way of thinking. People have the bad trait of speaking before thinking and this can lead to all kinds of awkward or difficult situations. 

It is perfectly normal for your brain to want to respond quickly, stop yourself and think before you speak! 

Sometimes it can be hard to stay focused on a person, it is normal to want to look away. If you find yourself doing this try nodding to the person or making direct eye contact with them. This signals to them that you are paying attention. If you really need to look away for a second, then muffle a cough behind your hand! 

Other tips that you might want to use to show that you are paying attention include: 

• Saying the person’s name now and again
• Using facial expressions
• Using body language

If you make an effort to put these five traits into play consistently, you will become a much better listener for it.