Listen without thinking of what to respond. Especially dating, interviewing, negotiations, public speaking, scolding kids. If it's a really important conversat

Listen without thinking of what to respond. Especially dating, interviewing, negotiations, public speaking, scolding kids. If it's a really important conversation, get a dedicated note taker because it's hard. Find core pillars of what someone is saying. Someone ranting about tax could be humblebragging, trying to show off their financial expertise, making empty conversation to bond/venting, solving a puzzle, selling a favoured political party, attacking rich people, and so on. Frequently two people are talking about entirely different topics and get frustrated. It leads on to the habit of better note taking. Information is associated, like branches of a tree. If you remember what someone was trying to say, you can easily remember what they actually said. After a while, this results in a photogenic memory effect.