How to listen actively

1. It's a fact

The average person spends at least one-fifth of his or her life talking. Ordinarily, in a single day, enough words are spoken to fill a fifty-page book. Over a year, the average person’s words would fill 132 books, each of at least 400 pages.

On the other hand, listening occupies on average around 30 per cent of our waking time. Listening is used more than talking, three times as much as reading, and four times as much as writing.

2. Viewpoint

"The reason we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less."

3. Quotable quote

"We receive little training in listening, and probably spend little time eval-uating or refining our listening behaviour or practising our listening skills - unlike the time we spend in reworking or rehearsing our public speeches. …