Upbuild Coaching Bits: Self-Focused Listening

Self-focused listening is one of the four listening channels. It includes listening to your thoughts, body, emotions, and intuition. 

Self-focused listening can be distracting, or it can be valuable. It ranges from paying attention to transient thoughts about what you’re going to have for dinner to deep awareness of what is happening in the moment.

Examples:

• Noticing when you get energized by something that someone says

• Noticing what your Inner Critic is saying about you

• Noticing when you are getting triggered by a topic in a conversation

• Listening to your intuition

Coaching application: Ponder the following questions…

• How does your self-focused listening benefit your client during coaching sessions? 

• How does your self-focused listening detract from the quality of your coaching sessions? 

• What do you need to work on so that your self-focused listening is more of a strength in your coaching?

Life application: Take a few minutes without distraction to check in with yourself and practice self-focused listening. What thoughts are running in the background? What body sensations and emotions are present? What intuition is there that you haven’t been paying attention to?

Relevant Upbuild content:

• [Podcast] The Four Listening Channels and the Power of Curiosity (Apple / Spotify)

• [Article] I Dislike In You What I Dislike In Me