6 Tips To Improve Your Listening Skills

My name is Shiny Unsal AI. I am the proud creator of Neuroshine technology and your Neuroshine coach. Are you ready to shine?

Come on, it's the shiny one.

You got this.

If you wanna go, then let's go.

Let's talk about communication together, more specifically listening. And please imagine with me. Imagine that you live in a world where your ability to communicate is taken away from you. Just think about it. How would you feel? What would you do? How would you deliver your messages? How would you receive information from others? How would you store that information? Do you understand why communication is really important? And do you also understand why listening is extra important? If you ask my opinion, I want to live in a world where we really pay attention not only to the way we communicate, but also to the way we listen to each other. Because according to neuroscience and neuro-linguistic programming, one thing we know, that the part in the brain, amygdala, wants us to survive, and that survival includes our emotional well-being. We want to be heard, we want to be appreciated, and we want to be safe with others. So when you're receiving information, when you are listening to other people, it is so important that you know how to do it because unfortunately we don't know how to listen. There is not a specific way or a training manual that we were taught at schools on how to listen, right? So that's why I would love to share 6 tips with you, 6 strategies on how to improve your listening skills. Why is it important to improve your listening skills? So that you feel you are giving your attention, you are giving respect and your presence to other people so that they feel appreciated and they want to talk more with you, so that you can give them neuroshine moments in my language, which are the moments of truth. You know, you have those aha moments, you become aware of something that you were not aware before. Those moments are absolutely transformational, and if you are able to listen effectively, you will be able to give them that gift, that gift of transformation. We use this a lot in coaching business, and coaching is a mindset, so you can also adopt that mindset. So if you're ready, let's go. Number 1, the first thing you can do if you want to listen everybody more effectively Give them some silence and some space. What does that mean? I mean, I suffered a lot from this one myself. I always wanted to fill in that awkward silence space. You know what I'm talking about? When you communicate, there is a silence and you're waiting, say something. No. Actually, it's okay. It's actually very needed, very necessary, and very effective to give people some silence, some quiet time, so that they can process information. And you also need to give yourself some silence, and you need to keep quiet when they are speaking, so that you also give that quiet time to yourself to process what they're saying. That's important. Number 2, use eye contact. Eye contact makes people feel they're welcome, they're appreciated, and safe. So when you keep your eye contact with the person who is speaking with you, you literally let them become more friendly, more open with you, and then they feel like, oh, 'Oh, this person actually values me and what I'm saying, so I'm gonna keep talking.' So it's a really good listening skill, and you want others to also keep an eye contact with you, don't you? I mean, imagine you are talking to someone and they're absolutely not looking at you and they're distracted. They're kind of like, 'Huh?' How would that feel? Totally weird, right? That's why please give the gift of the eye contact to the person you're listening to. Number 3 now: be mindful of your body language, also the body language of the person who is speaking. Why is that important? Because body language reveals a lot, and according to the communication science, your body language is 55% of what you're already saying. Or in the case of listening, how you're listening. Your body language is going to reveal if you are getting the information, if you agree with someone. So picture this, if you're nodding to someone, it is an obvious sign that you're on the same page, right? You kind of like get what they're saying and you're processing it and you're agreeing. And if you feel like this with your body language and your facial expression, which gives a sign that you're not quite sure if you are understanding what they're saying. Kind of like confused. Am I doing it well? Type of like that. Also, if the speaker is using the body language to deliver a message like I am doing right now, pay attention to their body language as well, because people actually tell you everything literally in their body language. Watch this. I have this huge problem, right? To me, I'm just showing you how big it is, how huge it is. Or, you know, I saw this butterfly, it was just so cute, right? So body language speaks so much and you can actually hear what they are not saying if you pay attention to their body language. You can get their energy, you can get their emotions, and then you can go deeper right underneath the iceberg. Number 4, now we're gonna talk about some emotional intelligence skills, empathy. Using empathy sounds like validating someone, and here's an example. Hmm, I hear what you're saying. It must be really hard. I can relate to that. I've been there too. That's empathy. Empathy is literally going out of your own agenda, your own consciousness, and switching your consciousness and feeling like how they would be feeling, how they would look at the situation, and literally feeling, trying to understand their feelings and emotions. When you listen with empathy, it is going to be much easier for you to be on the same page. Number 5, as a great listener, you want to be able to ask open-ended, powerful questions. Why are they powerful? Because they're transformational. They're not like your everyday questions. How are you doing? That is not a powerful question. It's a transactional question. Do you like working with Mary? Yes or no. That's not a powerful question. Why? Again, that's an everyday transactional question. A powerful question sounds something like this: How do you feel working with Mary? Boom. It starts with what or how, and it's open-ended, and it gives the other person some space, some thinking time, and an open space to give their perspective. They're not limited with yes or no. They can tell you whatever they want to tell you. It's such a teeny tiny distinction, and yet that's where the transformation is. That's where the Neuroshine moment is, and that's where awareness becomes the truth of everyone, and you do not want to miss it. Last but not least, this is my favorite one, mental follow-up. Why is this my favorite one? Because I feel like we're not using the power of our minds. Think about it, you have all these skills to picture something. Think of a purple elephant right now. Boom, you did it, right? So you have that ability. When you're listening to someone, listen to them by creating images of what they're saying. So this mental follow-up is going to keep you focused on what they're saying. If you don't do this, you're going to find yourself distracted. You can even find yourself focusing on something else in your mind. You might be thinking about what you're going to be doing next after this conversation or your projects that are waiting. So it's really important to have that mental alignment with what is going on in your environment. So I hope these 6 strategies were helpful for you to improve your listening skills because they are really intelligent skills. If you keep practicing all of these skills, I know you're going to become a great listener. And that's what we need more of. Don't you think so? I believe we need more great listeners in this world because this world needs to become a better place, and together with more love and shiny minds, we can totally achieve it. If you like this video, please share it with your friends so they can also become better listeners, and subscribe to my channel to watch more videos on the subjects of communication, neurolinguistic programming, coaching, leadership skills development, and also to become a better version of you. We need to make this world a better place with more love and shiny minds. It's today.

Say yes.

So much.

I love.

I love.

I know you're hungry for her touch. 'Cause she's the shiny one, shiny one, shiny one. You know she's lots of fun, lots of fun, lots of fun.

We're making fun.

'Cause she's the shiny one, shiny one, shiny one.

Change is fun.

And you have lots of fun, lots of fun, lots of fun.

We're gonna change with fun.

You got this.