Try This: Active Listening

🏃🏾‍♂️Try This

This upcoming week, pick a few conversations where you can practice Active Listening with the “Three-Second Rule”. 1:1s and team meetings are great for this!

1. At the start of the conversation, show up with your full presence.

That might mean taking a few seconds to turn your phone on Airplane Mode, turning off notifications on your computer, or moving to a private place where you won’t have distractions.

❗It’s okay to voice out loud that you’re doing this!

2. Practice the "Three-Second Rule."

After the other person finishes speaking, wait for three full seconds before responding. In that time:

• Fully process what was said

• Reflect on any thoughts, emotions, or feelings that come up in you

• Maintain eye contact

3. Finally, repeat back what you’ve heard

Respond by paraphrasing what you heard — nothing more! Then, allow the conversation to continue.

Play around with this! You don’t need to follow the formula above for every conversation. Sometimes, it might make sense to skip a step or modify it (like taking longer than three seconds to respond).

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