Listening costs nothing, needs no wrapping paper, and is still one of the rarest gifts you can give.

Full attention is rare because it cannot be given while doing anything else. There is no shortcut and no half version that works, which is exactly why receiving it feels like being handed something valuable. Most people spend their day being half heard by everyone around them. Twenty minutes of the other thing is genuinely unusual.

Give one person your undivided attention this week: phone away, no interruptions, no steering it back to yourself. Ask something and then stay quiet. You will learn things about someone you thought you already knew well.