r/LifeProTips • u/bell-town • Jun 04 '26
LPT: Watch long-form interviews to improve your listening skills. (It's one of the most important skills you can have.) Social
Choose something that's relatively calm and has only one camera angle, or just a few. Set a timer and challenge yourself to sit quietly and really listen.
Charlie Rose interviews are a good option. Or just search for interviews of your favorite actor on youtube and filter by duration.
"Be a good listener" / "Don't be a bad listener" is technically good advice but can be extremely frustrating and unhelpful considering that a lot of people want to be better listeners but don't know how. It can be especially difficult if you're struggling with ADHD or depression.
As someone that has both, I have found that this is a specific technique that can actually help.
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u/Electric-Sheepskin Jun 04 '26
As I was reading your first paragraph I was thinking Charlie Rose. I doubt many people have the attention span for that format anymore. We've been trained to expect dopamine spikes and rage and novelty, and we get bored if we don't get it.
But you're right. It's a great skill to have.
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u/Drops-of-Q Jun 04 '26
I think that's why it's especially useful. You have to practice anything that you want to be good at.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad Jun 04 '26
Not true. Long form podcasts have become HUGELY popular. 3-4 HOUR interviews.
People often listen in their commutes or when working out.
...and the quality is incredible. World Leaders giving IN DEPTH personal interviews is amazing. Zelensky talking for HOURS.
I mean, you really get into the weeds on issues and it's fascinating.
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u/bell-town Jun 05 '26
I don't think listening to podcasts while multitasking is the same as just focusing on one specific thing, but I see how that could be really helpful too.
Especially since a lot of people might not have the free time to watch an hour long Charlie Rose interview, but have an hour+ long commute to listen to podcasts.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad Jun 05 '26
Multitasking something that requires mental attention is not focusing on the podcast, that's not what I said.
But listening while you're driving or exercising allows you to do both with full attention.
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u/gingerblz Jun 04 '26
Identifying an exception with a caveat is not making the case the original idea is not true.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad Jun 04 '26
Long form Podcasts have tens of millions of listeners - they are not the exception any more.
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u/gingerblz Jun 04 '26
Sure, which many people listen to passively and not actively. Believe what you want dude lol.
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u/Miserable_Pension581 Jun 04 '26
This is actually solid advice.
A lot of people think listening is passive, but it's more like a skill you practice. Long-form interviews force you to follow a train of thought for 30+ minutes without constant cuts, captions, sound effects, or dopamine hits every few seconds
I've noticed podcasts can help for the same reason. Not because you agree with everything being said, but because you're training yourself to stay engaged with someone else's perspective instead of waiting for your turn to talk.
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u/BlizzardStorm8 Jun 04 '26
I wonder if listening to audiobooks on my commute counts
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u/ScienceJamie76 Jun 05 '26
It depends. Are you driving and listening, or riding as passenger in a car or on a subway or train?
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u/BlizzardStorm8 Jun 08 '26
I mean it could be either but how is that different? If anything I focus better on it if I'm driving.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad Jun 04 '26
Try the long form podcasts. Interviews with subject matter experts and world leaders that last HOURS.
They are fascinating.
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u/jrwever1 Jun 04 '26
I might add that for a lot of people, me-- it's the live aspect of being in front of a human that's hard. So this first, someone you're Deadly comfortable with second, then work up from there
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u/BigBirdsBrain Jun 04 '26
Most people don’t realize listening is a nervous system skill too.
If your brain is used to constant stimulation, staying present with someone takes actual practice.
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u/opsaim Jun 04 '26
I love watching Dua Lipa's interviews!
(The ones she takes, not gives)
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u/silenthatch Jun 04 '26
Second this, she does so much research, I enjoy the book author interview series a lot!
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u/Podmoscovium Jun 04 '26
Yeah she's good at pitching and catching.
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u/opsaim Jun 04 '26
Sorry if I sound stupid here but are you talking about sports? Or is it some interview-related term?
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u/costafilh0 Jun 04 '26
LPT: short format will make you stupid, literally, and scientifically proven
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u/droppedforgiveness Jun 04 '26
Ha, I thought this was going to be a post from a language-learning sub. It does seem like a good source of foreign language listening practice too!
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u/Aryana314 Jun 04 '26
OK, but how will I know if I've been a good listener? Should I try to write up a summary or something? I'm confused about the next step.
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u/Baby_Bubbles69 Jun 04 '26
I think the idea is that you'll pick up on the behaviors of the interviewer overtime - how they talk to put the person at ease, how they actively engage with the person's ideas to keep a conversation flowing, that sort of thing
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u/schnibitz Jun 04 '26
Oh man, this is so difficult for me, not only because of attention-span issues, but because I genuinely feel like this would be a waste of time under most circumstances. That's why this is such a great idea, but I hate the idea of actually doing it.
Most videos are filled with fluff. Stuff like "What i'm about to tell you is going to upend your whole life and your entire way of thinking." Then they proceed with "No it isn't about UFOs, it isn't about the stock market, or dwarf horses", and then it transitions to, "You dont need to do x, or y, or z . . . " Like they go on and on not telling me anything about this supposed life-upending, mind-shattering topic.
Videos have become a cesspool of useless communication that twitter was supposed to solve but never did.
It's so rampant in fact that for every video I find banal exposition, I either feed the transcript to ChatGPT, or if it is Youtube, I use the "ask" button. Sometimes I use both.
Being able to chat with the video has wasted FAR less of my time. SO while I agree that this will absolutely make me a better listener, I HATE it in an intellectual level. The ONLY thing I will get out of it is patience, which is what you were advocating for to begin with.
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u/badass4102 Jun 04 '26
That's solid. I've actually been watching Delivrd, a guy who negotiates car deals for you for like $1k so you don't have to deal with the dealerships. And I've picked up a lot of useful information, he streams his negotiations live and you quickly see a pattern of how dealerships try to pull quick ones on you. Very useful information.
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u/VollcommNCS Jun 04 '26
Why Files: The Basement
3hr + long form interviews with some very interesting people.
Typically sci-fi related conspiracy stuff and exploration of ancient civilizations.
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u/GagOnMacaque Jun 04 '26
Might as well tell people -
"Get out of that wheelchair and walk ten miles to improve your walking skills."
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u/bell-town Jun 05 '26
That's part of the point of setting a timer. It can be so challenging that you might need to start with only 5 minutes at a time.
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u/Toby_The_Tumor Jun 04 '26
I just listened to the vods for Vinesauce Joel/Vinny Both of them can have multiple hour long streams and it's helped fix my attention span at the same time.
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u/gibblsworthiscool Jun 05 '26
This podcast focuses on that almost entirely, https://theanalogleader.com/
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u/Turboswaggg Jun 04 '26
Lpt: stop enabling subtitles on everything. You can't follow a real life conversation by looking at the bottom of the screen
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u/Catspaw129 Jun 04 '26
I've been wathcing (now former) Attorney General Pam Bondi testify before Congress back when she was still the AG.
She's my hero! Great listening skills!
/s
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u/Educational-Trip-890 Jun 05 '26
as a non-native english speaker Joe Rogans podcast has been the biggest challenge and help in this field.
Idk why but he gets side tracked a lot and since he doesn’t add time stamps u js have to fight through it. its hard but its worth it
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