Better listening skills help you pay better attention

Your boss told you to follow up on the order as soon as the meeting ends. Thirty minutes later your telephone rings and he asks you what happened when you made the telephone call to follow up. Oops… how do you tell him, you weren’t really paying attention and you forgot to call?

Your colleague told you to meet him at the meeting at 8:00am the next morning to do the presentation you both worked so hard on for weeks. Only problem, you didn’t hear the time. You knew he said something to you, but your mind was on something else. He is at the meeting at 8:00am and you are not! Why? You were paying attention when he was talking.

Does this sound familiar? Do you have difficulty paying attention or listening to what is being said? Are you easily distracted or have your mind on other things and therefore don’t pay attention to the important information that is said to you?