Selective listening
You must not stop listening if the information makes you uncomfortable, or if the information is too difficult. Also, you must not predict what you think a meeting is about or what you think will be said. If you practice selective listening, you will miss important parts of the message.
Missing parts of the message does not do justice to the person speaking. We should give the full attention to the person speaking as I would expect for myself.
I concur. Heading into a meeting or conversation with a preconceived notion sets one up to miss the point. It is easy to spend your time preparing a rebuttal rather than actively listening.
Many times you can have a preconceived notion on a topic... the Idea in Empathetic listening is to have an open mind and listen to all sides, comments and then reassess your position. You become selective in your listening when you close out issues not in line with your preconceived notions.
When you actually listen and do not allow yourself to begin thinking of a response before the other person has said their part, you will find how difficult it really is. I tried doing this for just 5 minutes and it felt like 50. Keeping your focus on what is said is much harder than you think when you do it correctly.
I agree, if you do not give your full attention you could miss important information.
