• Level one is self-reflective listening, your attention is on yourself with little or no capacity to engage outside of your own experience.

• Your mind will be full of internal dialogue, images and feelings, and every one of them directed internally, this will prove a real challenge when you need engage with an audience or find yourself in a sales situation.

• In a presenting or sales environment imagine trying to deliver the pitch of your life when your head is full of noise, internal noise that you just cannot seem to turn off.

• This level of internal noise and activity is when countless presenters experience a blank mind!

Level two is where your full attention is on the other person. This creates an intimate and exclusive connection. You will be totally focused on them, listening for more than just the words - focusing on what is not being said. Being immersed in the meaning behind the spoken word, as well as the person's emotions and reactions.

Your awareness will be on voice tone, body language, and what is implied. One of the finest examples of level two is the professional translator. Reflect on the picture of the main assembly room of the European Parliament in Brussels. An impressive room normally packed with Parliamentary Candidates from numerous nationalities.

The formidable challenge for the professional translator is quantitative expressions and poise. They must be in total rapture and hang on every vowel and consonant being spoken and understand specific technical and linguistic requirements. These linguistic emotions and expressions along with the words spoken must be translated with exact tone of expression, enabling the receiver to make informed decisions based not just on words, but on the emotion behind the spoken words.

The professional translator must also be able to close down interference from other parts of the room, thus creating the exclusive connection between the orator, the receiver and themselves, level two ability is essential to accomplishing this.

Another great example is the focus of a Sheep Dog when hearing the movement and sounds of the Sheep. The dog becomes riveted to every move the sheep makes and will anticipate their moves with high levels of accuracy.