Listening is one of the most powerful communication tools and is a process used to receive, convey meaning, and respond to verbal and nonverbal messages. It’s what we choose to do and it takes more work than talking. Often people simply misunderstand the difference between listening and hearing. Hearing is a passive process of picking up sounds and noises and listening is what you choose to do. This selective process includes 5 phases that can be learned so that we can become effective listeners in the future. The 5 phases are attending, understanding, remembering, critical evaluation (listening) and responding. Once the 5 different areas are understood, we will become aware of what needs to change and how we can change them. It will also help us improve our listening skills in the workplace, school, home, etc. The first phase of the listening process is diligence. Attending is a deliberate effort to perceive selected sounds. The most important factor in participating is preparing to be physically and mentally ready to pay attention. We should focus primarily on paying attention to the message rather than meeting inner thoughts and feelings. In my everyday life, I try to prepare to attend even though it can sometimes be difficult. For example, the other day when I was at home, I had an argument with my mother and started talking to her again. But I realized I had to look at her directly and position myself correctly. After she finished speaking, I understood what she meant and that's when I noticed an improvement in myself because it made it seem like I was interested in what she was saying. Another important factor in improving your helping skills is to move from being a speaker to being a listener...... middle of paper ...... in. So, of course, I would jump in and interrupt them like always, otherwise they would never understand my point of view on this. I think I should try not to interrupt them and let them finish speaking, then I should respond with how I feel. To be an effective listener, the process of listening must be integrated into our lives. We need to pay attention to what people are saying, clarify what the speaker is trying to get across, and respond in a way that they can understand what we are saying. I think I was aware that I needed improvement in some areas of this process, but I feel like everything is changing slowly. In the future, I will try not to interrupt people, not to get distracted, not to disconnect, and to try to see the big picture of what the person is telling me. If good listening habits are applied in our daily life, we can easily communicate with anyone..