Don’t interrupt and listen closely

Do you recognise this (from times when the hospitality industry was just open)?

An: “We went to eat at a very nice restaurant last week and they had…“
Els: “Oh yeah, we also just went somewhere new the day before yesterday. It was really nice.”
An: “Really?Cool.” “So I was saying, they had a really special dish there that I had never eaten before. I thought …“
Els: “Oh, at our place it was delicious. I think you’re going to like that very much too, was really a restaurant for you.”
An: “Well, the dish was … oh never mind”.  “Where is this little restaurant of yours?”

It is annoying that, when you’re speaking, the other person keeps interrupting. 

We can all agree to that and yet I’m sure we’ve all done the same thing. After all, it is very difficult to really listen and not say anything until the other person has completely spoken.

One of the reasons is, that we are too smart. That is; we think too fast.
Yes, your thoughts race like an express train. So fast that spoken words can’t catch up with them.

I’ll give you some figures: We speak on average at a rate of 140-180 words per minute. But our thoughts have a capacity of 400 words per minute.
So there is an “overcapacity” in our brain. And this overcapacity is filled by other thoughts, possible answers, conclusions, assumptions or sometimes our thoughts completely wander off.

Fortunately, there are tricks to becoming a better listener and not interrupting.

Tip for today
Let the other person speak and listen carefully.
People will love talking to you that way, because good listeners are very valuable.