Exercises
All right, so you’ve read the posts above, and you know have an understanding of how to approach people and start a conversation. Now, it’s time to do it!
Your mission is to go out and have short conversations (2 – 10 minute each in length) with 10 strangers. You can talk to them about anything, and you can talk to any person whom you have never spoken to before. You’ll find that it might feel a little awkward in the beginning to talk to strangers for
any length of time… but after the first couple of times you’ll find that it’s actually a wonderful feeling. You’ll really get a rush out of this.
Also, keep in mind that most people want to meet other people and have conversations with them, but are just too shy or insecure. So in fact, you will be doing a huge favour to those people whom you decide to hold a conversation with. Plus, I’ll bet you’ll learn new things from them, and maybe even make a couple of new friends. And in this phase of the Boot Camp, don’t let yourself feel limited to speaking to only girls… speak with anyone you want!
In fact, if you’re a bit apprehensive about talking to people, you can start out with those people who are easier for you to approach. For me, this is senior citizens, since I’ve found that most of them love talking with anyone who would give them half an ear, and I’ve found them to be very interesting
conversationalists.
After each conversation, write down in your journal what you thought of the conversation, and approximately the length of the conversation (estimate if you don’t have a watch). Once you complete this lesson, post your results, plus the topic of your most interesting conversation, and anything else
you wish to share.
You have until this time next week to complete this lesson. Also, make sure you keep on practicing the skills learned in the first lesson (e.g., you can practice establishing eye contact with someone, saying Hi, and going into a conversation. However, initial eye contact or a Hi is not a requirement before
initiating a conversation).
Also, a tip that might help you with this lesson, and the next few lessons, is the 3-second rule (You can find it on ASF). What this means is that when you find someone you might be interested in approaching, don't give yourself more than 3 seconds from the moment you are able, to approach
them. Anything longer than 3 seconds highly increases the chance that your nerves will work against you, and that you'll chicken out. Even if you have nothing planned to discuss with them, you'll find that you'll amazingly have something to say if you can only force your feet to propel you to the person.