Styles of Listening

Out of all of these different listening styles I would describe myself as an action centered listener. I enjoy listening to people’s problems and stories but I want them to be clear and concise. When a person’s story is too long or they are not using proper English I have a tendency towards losing focus. I will usually focus more on the length of the speech or their lack of a vocabulary instead of listening to the actual story. One of my biggest pet peeves is my generation’s infatuation with the word “like”. When a person uses this word more than 3 times in a sentence, which happens too often, all I can focus on is that.

         I believe that I learned this from a mixture of both my family and my friends. Both my mother and my father stressed the importance of speech. When I was younger I had many problems in school and they tried very hard to help me improve. From them I know now that clear messages are important in life. Also, my friends have also helped me become an action-centered listener. Any time my stories would drag on they would always tell me to get to the point and this has stuck with me.

         This style of listening can be both good and bad. Organized speeches make the speaker seem smart and desirable by employers and teachers alike. Although, at times when my boss gives a task but does not say it in a clear way, I sometimes wonder off in my head and forget the task completely. Just recently this happened to me at work and if I had been more people centered in my listening I would have been able to pay attention to what my boss was telling me instead of focusing on how long she had been talking.