9.01

1). Think of a recent situation in which you found listening difficult. Which one (or more) of the four phases presented the most difficulty for you? Why? How could this have been overcome?

I was studying and doing homework in a local coffee shop with my laptop when a friend called me on my cell. During the phone conversation, the (two) components of listening I had most difficulty with were sensing (hearing the message) and active listening. Not only did I have to tune out the background noise of people talking at tables, the cashier ringing up orders, etc I also had to tune out the homework and studying I was doing in order to pay attention to my friend talking, which I didn’t do. I tried to multitask by doing homework/writing/reading and actively listening to my friend talk and a few minutes – yes minutes – later I heard him saying something like “so what do you think, man?” and I’m like “huh?” Well this could have easily been overcome, actually. I had no problem, as I never do, tuning out the background noise – I just should have also tuned out my studying/laptop as well while I was on the phone. I’m not as good with multitasking as I thought I was…