Are you a good listener? There is a lot of hype around this topic and everyone tells you to be one. Everyone says that being a good listener will lead to us being successful. But what is the difference between a person who listens and the person who is a conversationalist?
Someone asked me once what is the thing you are proud of the most, I said I am a person who gets intrigued by other people. It is an underestimated skill but he who is able to master this skill becomes not only likable but is able to influence people in the right way. If you listen to people and care about them it is implicit that they will return the favor.
Listening should not mean sitting quietly and pretending to care about the other person. It should be an activity and all activities require a certain set of skills. The skills involved in active listening include sitting in an erect posture, with hands visible. When someone is talking to you it should be them and only them that matter.
As I said that I am in India right now. I went to a store to buy some clothes and didn't like some of the stuff that they shopkeeper was showing to me. So I told him that, he started to say things in a manner that made me feel that I didn't know anything. Although, I liked some of the stuff he showed me after that point I didn't want to listen to him. So he lost a sale just because he didn't want to listen.
Sometimes it is important to just listen, even when we know the other person is wrong don't say it just listen to them, it doesn't matter if the topic is related to our field of work we should just listen, it improves the amount of knowledge we have and have also makes us more open to ideas. So next time just listen and see how much it impacts your life.