{"id":16211,"date":"2026-09-21T14:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paycorp.io\/blog\/?p=16211"},"modified":"2026-10-17T06:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:48:34","slug":"how-to-become-a-better-listener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paycorp.io\/blog\/how-to-become-a-better-listener\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Become A Better Listener"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the other person says they don\u2019t want your feedback, you can respond by thanking them for their honesty and moving on. Let AI discover what you truly want and create a personalized roadmap to get there. Acknowledging someone\u2019s emotions can be beneficial to their mental well-being. A 2020 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology concluded validation has a positive effect on emotions. Simply having someone affirm your stress or unhappiness about an experience can be majorly beneficial.<\/p>\n

Learning English by listening to songs is a fun and effective way to improve your listening skills. If you want to get better at English listening, you have to\u2026 well, listen to English. To experience empathy, you have to put yourself in the other person\u2019s place and allow yourself to feel what it is like to be her at that moment.<\/p>\n

Active listening gives the opportunity to understand alternative viewpoints and identify possible areas of agreement to move forward toward a resolution (Phillips, 1999). Showing short, positive expressions of interest demonstrates our engagement in the conversation, motivating the person to keep talking without interruptions (Nelson-Jones, 2014). Although similar to paraphrasing, verbalizing emotions refers less to the content and more to perceiving the feelings expressed by the speaker and reflecting them back (Miller and Rollnick, 2013).<\/p>\n

In turn, building these healthy connections helps establish well-being in life. Social connectedness was linked to better mental wellness in a 2022 study by the International Journal of Public Health. Babies are discriminative listeners because they can understand the intention of what is said before they can comprehend words. For example, if someone speaks to them in a silly and joyful tone of voice, they generally smile and laugh back. This type of listening also helps them recognize different voices, so they know who is speaking.<\/p>\n

Active Listening Skills Aren\u2019t Enough: For People To Feel Heard, Actions Matter Too<\/h2>\n

However, with proper concentration, letting go of distractions, and improving your focus this becomes easier. It is also helpful to use techniques like clarification and questioning to help you make more sense of ideas. By opening your mind to new ideas and perspectives, you can more fully empathise with the speaker.<\/p>\n

Most people will find this particular component of active listening difficult to do, as thinking about responding instead of listening is at least partially about anxiety. But if you can silence that inner voice, it will communicate volumes to the person you\u2019re interacting with. When you listen carefully, you understand people\u2019s feelings, ideas, and needs. When someone is speaking, it\u2019s polite to wait until they finish before you talk. Good listeners stay patient and respond only after understanding the full message.<\/p>\n

For example, critical listening aims to understand the information and use it to form an opinion, while empathetic listening seeks to understand the person communicating with you. When you listen to podcasts and informational training, you engage in comprehensive listening, which helps you learn new concepts and information. When you listen to motivational speeches or inspirational music, you practice appreciative listening, which has the goal of helping you find enjoyment.<\/p>\n