## How To Understand Context Instead Of Just Responding Source URL:: <https://www.fastcompany.com/3032986/how-to-understand-context-instead-just-responding> ### Highlights > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:46:42 GMT-0400%% > > What I’ve discovered is that the context of any situation is very important. > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:47:00 GMT-0400%% > > “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”–Stephen R Covey > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:48:05 GMT-0400%% > > Give the other person your full attention > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:48:14 GMT-0400%% > > used to feel that I always had to respond if there was the slightest moment of silence between myself and someone I was speaking with. This assumption led me to prepare a response in my mind. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I would stop listening and wait for the other person to finish talking. I literally wouldn’t hear any more words, and sometimes I would even jump in before they had finished > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:48:44 GMT-0400%% > > I try to avoid “giving advice” or “stating my opinion” for as long as I possibly can. Instead, I ask questions based on the previous thing the other person just said > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:48:58 GMT-0400%% > > If I have an idea to help the other person, I try to always present it as a question. I aim to guide them to my idea through question > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:49:16 GMT-0400%% > > Be open to whatever path the conversation takes > [!quote]+ %%Updated on Mon Apr 18 2022 00:49:37 GMT-0400%% > > I’ve realized that if I simply sit, feel no need to respond, and focus on hearing every word and learning quickly about the other person’s context, then very often the conversation will go down a whole new path than the “initial thought