Improve your listening skills

Why does my attention drift when I'm listening?

Relax! It's normal to have your attention drift when you are listening -- even when you are actually trying. Your ability to focus your attention and listen can be developed by practice, and self-awareness, but it's useful to understand why attention drifts.

Your ability to take in information from someone speaking allows you to process information much faster than a normal person speaks. Some estimates are that you can take in information up to six times faster than the average person speaks. What happens is that you have this unused mental capacity, so your mind wanders because it is not being used to its maximum capacity.

That interferes with your ability to "stay with the person talking", since you start thinking about other things, and in the process miss things or nuances you will need to completely understand the other person.