Genuine Listening?

We are currently reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, a book by Sean Covey, and in Habit 5 the book talks about seeking first to understand and then to be understood. Reading Habit 5, I learn to listen genuinely.

When I read about genuin listening and all the other wrong types of listening, I thought I hardly ever do the wrong listening and I almost all ways listen genuinely. Then I called one of my friends just to talk. During the whole conversation I was spacing out and selective listening the whole time. And I realized that maybe, just maybe, that I wasn't the great listener that I thought I was.

When I went to school the next day, I was confounded that I spaced out and selective listened again. It is now my goal to space out and selective listen less, and to genuinely listen more. I understand that it is important to understand someone before they can understand you.