Listening to Answer....

Do you learn to listen or is it an inborn ability? Many of us think it is an inborn ability, but listening is really an art and you really need to learn this art. But what is so artful about listening? And why is it needed? Following questions are answers to this question. How many times did it happen that you answered without listening the question completely? And how many times were your answers correct?

Listening followed by understanding and thinking is the first step of problem solving or answering a question. When you start listening you brain sends a signal 'Yes! I know this'. And you start speaking something about the question, which certainly is not the answer, because the question does not pertain to your knowledge of the peripherals or the milieu of that knowledge. It pertains to a part of that knowledge, which is extracted by analyzing the required part needed to answer the question.

This process pops up another art called understanding. If you do not listen to the question completely, it is certain that you do not understand it. What will happen if you try to solve a problem without understanding it, for instance do you write a 'B' when asked to write an 'A'? No, because there is a distinction between the two characters. This distinction is so obvious to you that your propensity to answer it will make you feel that you did not try to understand before answering it.But there is an understanding involved.

Understanding obviously follows listening but it requires you to think, which part of your knowledge is required to give the best answer. When you listen to a question, how many times do you think before you answer? If you don't do so, you are just speaking, you are not answering. This thinking process is what I call digging the knowledge to mine the knowledge required to answer the question.

Listening also does not mean hearing. Hearing is as good as seeing something without observing. Listening requires interference of brain for the aforementioned process same as observation needs skills to understand and think.

Keep reading and listening..:)