Rishi Keshe Hirway

At first, I was really looking at those isolated pieces of music to do the work of revealing the inside of their respective houses.

But as I was having conversations with them about their songs, something happened.

I realized that there were rooms to be discovered in the conversations themselves, doors that could be opened.

And I started to wonder, could I try listening to people the way that I was trying to listen to music?

When someone tells you something, just like with the song, there can be all these layers within it.

There can be all this context that you're missing as the person out on the street, outside of the house.

So to get inside, I had to listen for those moments and those clues where there was more to be discovered, where there was something below the surface of what was first presented to me.

So I borrowed from my music listening brain.

And now when I'm in a conversation, this is what I try to do.

be open to new ideas, stop multitasking, let the other person know that you're engaged, and do it without taking your focus away from them and turning it onto you.

Because of making Song Exploder, I now listen to a much wider range of music than I used to.

When I was younger, I used to actually pride myself on my music stoppery.

But nowadays, it just feels like I'm potentially cutting myself off from hearing some great ideas.

And I think that's a prerequisite when it comes to listening to people too.

You have to go into it open-minded and curious and ready to learn something new.

Also, the instinct to multitask is so hard to turn off, but it's so important that you do it.

You know, when you're listening to music these days, most of the time, it's something that we do passively.

It's in the background.

It's the soundtrack to something else that we're doing.

And I hate to say it, but between our phones and our smartwatches and just our own wandering thoughts, it's easy to get distracted.