Question

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. In a minimum of 500 words, answer the following question(s): What does this quotation from the textbook mean, "The key to being understood is to seek first to understand". Please provide specific examples. Why is it important to keep this in mind when you want to make yourself understood?

Answer 1

This quotation reminds me of other quotation which is" Treat others the way you want to be treated". The message of this quotation is that if you want to be understood by others then first you must learn to understand others as well as yourself. Because if you want to see a change then you will have to start with yourself. It sounds very selfish that you only wish to be understood by others but not want to understand others.

For example; You and your best friend are having a conversation on a serious issue. You want your friend, who is working aboard, to come to your wedding next month. Your friend says that he has to fly to Sweden for a very important meeting of office. Now if you get angry on this and think that your friend is sounding a bit selfish and he is not understanding you whereas the reality is entirely different. So in this case, u might feel bad because what error you made is you just wished

that your friend should understand you. Neither you can cancel your marriage nor your friend can cancel his meeting. If you would have tried to understand the viewpoint of your friend there were not any hard feelings towards him.

We should always keeping the mind that if we want to be understood then we should learn to understand first because this perception helps us to avoid conflicts in relationships with people any field. It promotes harmony, cordial relationships and many other things.