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Are you looking for conversation starters? How does one start a conversation anyway?
Don’t you admire people who waltz into a room and immediately find themselves immediately sharing jokes with someone, while you’re standing alone, all self-conscious, hoping for something to happen?
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The thing is, we all feel nervous when encountering strangers for the first time. We all wait for someone to come and talk to us.
Take the initiative and talk to someone. Chances are, that person will be relieved that you did and you would have gained valuable experience as well as an increased sense of confidence.
Starting a conversation with a stranger can be daunting, but the rewards can be great. Here are some conversation starters that can help you start a conversation.
Greet and introduce yourself – The most basic technique available. All you need to know is the word “Hello” together with your name.
State a fact – This is something that is known as small talk. If you’re seated in the audience waiting for the show/speech to start, you could turn to the person seated beside you and say: “Lots of people seated here today.” or something to that effect, just to try to break the ice.
Make an inquiry – This is an easy one. Just ask someone around you a question. Everybody likes to feel important, and asking them a question is a way to say: “I think you are knowledgable and I want to hear what you have to say.”
Use a leading question – A leading question is one which attempts to guide the respondent's answer. Leading questions which lead the conversation to a certain topic could easily serve as a good conversation starter, and will depend on the situation at hand.
Ask open ended questions – Open-ended questions are questions that encourage people to talk. They help in establishing rapport and helps gathers information about the speaker. These questions avoid simple brief response such “yes” or “no.” which may easily kill off the flow of the conversation. These include questions such as “Tell me more about yourself.”
Pay a complement – This is something that will definitely endear you to the other person fast. Everybody likes to be complemented, and as long as it is done sincerely, from the heart, there is absolutely no drawback.
Look for items on the person to comment – This technique is usually used in tandem with paying a complement. When you look at a person, immediately identify something nice which that person is wearing and mention it.
John Maxwell, one of the world’s leading experts of leadership, has a 30-second rule. He advocates saying something nice to each person you meet 30 seconds upon meeting them. If each individual in this world follows this rule, the world will indeed become a better place to live in.
The above are proven conversation starters that can be used to help break the ice with a stranger.
When employing these conversation starter techniques, do remember to employ the basic techniques of interpersonal communication such as practice active listening as well as becoming genuinely interested in the other person. Follow the five techniques of good interpersonal communication.
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This will not only allow you to get the conversation started, but also to get it moving as well. Start talking and practice better interpersonal communication, today!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Conversation Starters
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Entrecard Self Improvement Drop List
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There are a lot of entrecard drop list around. However, most of them feature sites of a random nature. What if you could do your daily drops and improve yourself at the same time?
Now you can with the
Entrecard Self Improvement Drop List
featuring fast loading Self Improvement (health and self development) sites. (Last Updated 16th July 2012)
Here are the sites
1. Better Interpersonal Communication
2. Life's Journeys
3. Wonder Wealth Wisdom
4. livelife365
5. Modus Vivendi - Art Therapy
6. My Dog Ate My Resume
7. Therapy Home
8. Using Humor
9. Losing It - Getting Fit
10. Lazy Bear Blogs
11. Peace, love & happiness unto the whole world
12. Art by Tomas
13. How To $urvive A Layoff Blog
14. Thoughts From MY Cluttered Mind
15. I Empower Myself
16. Tomas' Sketchbook
17. Blessings For Life
18. Your site here
Other Recommended Self Improvement Sites
1. UNIVISIONS BLOG
If you would like to add your site to the list to receive more drops on your entrecard, here are the necessary requirements:
- Your site needs to be related to self improvement. (Health, Psychological, Self Improvement tips etc...) Anything that improves a reader.
- At least 1 month old with at least 10 posts. (Exceptions can be made for reasonably designed sites with interesting posts)
- Your entrecard needs to be above the fold (visible when your page loads without having to scroll down)
- A compulsory reciprocal link to this blog on your site (Using either one of the code provided below) - This helps to promote our drop list!
- Stumble, digg or reddit this page to help me promote this list. (Optional)
The more popular the list becomes, the more drops for you!
That is all. If you meet the following qualifications, leave a comment here (Or message me at Entrecard) with your details and I’ll add you to the list.
This code was designed to blend below or above your entrecard widget
Copy the code below
Copy the code below
I will be creating an Entrecard Self Development Easy Bookmark and may also be holdng a contest to promote this list once it is finalised, so do stay timed for that.
Finally, do contact me if you have any comments or suggestions. Thanks
Sunday, June 1, 2008
A Magical Formula to Stop All Worry Situations
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Step 1: ASK yourself, ‘What is the worst that could happen?”
Analyse the situation without fear and in a truthful manner and figure out “What was the worst that could possibly happen?”
Step 2: Prepare to ACCEPT it if you have to.
After figuring out what was the worst that could possibly happen, you should reconcile yourself to accept it, if necessary.
Step 3: Calmly proceed to IMPROVE on the worst.
Finally, strive to devote your time and energy on trying to improve on the worst which you have already accepted mentally.
Let us apply this 3 step process on a real life business example. Take the fear of presentating an important proposal to the senior management of a company for instance.
Firstly, ask yourself, what is the worst that could possibly happen? Maybe your proposal will be rejected and you will be fired, or your company will lose a million dollars as a result.
Next, accept the worst. If you are fired, one can always reapply for another job. It might be a new opportunity to try out new things
or explore other exciting opportunities. If your company lost money, accept the lost. At least you gained some valuable experience from the incident.Finally, having accepted the worst, you are now likely to be in a better mental state and more ready to be able to handle the problem.
