Telling Stories in Conversation

Stories put your ability to connect into overdrive. People are wired for storytelling, and the easiest way to someone's heart is not through their stomach but through storytelling.

Unfortunately, it's easy to tell a story badly.  You've probably been subject to rambling storytellers that take forever to get to the point -- or worse, don't seem to have a point at all. On occasion, you've probably also been one of those storytellers on occasion (sorry!)

Fortunately, it's also easy to tell a story well -- if you know how. There's just three things you need to remember.Read More

3 Hobbies That Teach Social Skills

Social skills improve with practice. The more time you spend interacting with others, the better you become at social interaction (makes sense, right?)

Unfortunately, finding the opportunity to practice can be difficult. If you want to be a better runner, you can lace on your shoes and run around the block, but if you want to get better at social skills, where do you go to practice?

That's what this article is all about. Sit tight, and I'll tell you three of my favorite hobbies that helped me improve my social skills -- and that can help you, too!Read More

MLK Day 2013

As always on MLK day, I want to take the opportunity to share with you my favorite speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

I gave this speech at a competition my senior year of college, and I count that moment as one of my proudest accomplishments. This speech means a lot to me, and I hope it will inspire you too.

It's an inspiration to me, and I hope it will inspire you too.

Give it a read!

2012 Reflections

What a year.

One year ago, I launched Improve Your Social Skills.

In that year, incredible things have happened.

  • Over 100,000 people have visited Improve Your Social Skills

And 2013 is going to be even better. Here's a glimpse at what 2013 has in storeRead More

How To Be More Social

If you've come to Improve Your Social Skills, it's probably because you want to be more social. You don't study social skills so you can sit in your room alone---you study them so you can go out and be social!

But how do you actually make that happen? And what does "being social" even mean, anyway?

Well, the first step is to spend some time building up your social skills. If you try to be social and then run into trouble because your social skills need work, you're going to get discouraged and it will be harder to be social in the future.

But let's say you've already put in the time to study and practice your social skills, and you feel confident. You've studied how to make conversation and you've brushed up on your body language. You may not be perfect, but you're ready to put your social skills to use.

If that's you, then becoming more social is easy. Here's how you do it.Read More

How To Make Eye Contact

Making good eye contact is tough.

Give too much eye contact, and you come across as too intense (at best) or a creepy starer (at worst).

Give too little eye contact, and the other person might think you don't care about what they have to say.

Plus, when you're worrying about making good eye contact, the rest of the interaction suffers. Instead of enjoying a great conversation, you're stressing about eye contact.

That's not good for anyone.

The Secret Of Great Eye Contact

Fortunately, there's a simple trick that will help you master great eye contact.Read More

Music Mondays: Imagine Dragons

So it seems to be a thing for bloggers to do Music Mondays, and share their favorite music on Monday.

Now, I don't know that I exactly qualify as a blogger (most of the content on Improve Your Social Skills is in the guide, not this blog). But I recently found a new band called Imagine Dragons that I'm feeling pretty fanboyish about and I thought, hey.

Let's put that on the blog.

So that's what I'm doing. I doubt that Music Mondays will become a thing for me, but for now, I'm going to take the opportunity to share some cool tunes with you.

Here's the video for a song called "It's Time." It's basically wonderful, although I have no idea what's going on in the video. If you want to listen to samples of their other stuff or buy the album, you can head to Amazon. Enjoy!

your daily beautiful

Read The Dating Guide Now!

Hi everyone! I'm proud to announce the release of the Improve Your Social Skills dating guide.

It covers everything you need to know to have a healthy, fulfilling relationship, and it walks you through the whole process, from first meeting to first kiss to lifelong love story.

It is now the largest section of the guide, with 7 lessons (and an 8th lesson answering reader questions coming soon!). If printed in a physical book, it would be nearly 30 pages long---and I'm so excited to share it with you.

The dating guide is included in membership, so you can become a member today to read both the full dating guide as well as my guides on making friends, meeting people, and more! You can also read a sneak peek of the dating guide by checking out my guest post at The Dating Specialist---it includes an excerpt from the guide.

I hope that with the introduction of the dating section, Improve Your Social Skills will become an even more valuable resource for you on your journey of social skills. Good luck!

your daily beautiful

Speaking Truth To Yourself (And Others)

So I go to a wonderful church called Soma. It's full of people who try to love Jesus and each other, and although they are often messy at it, there is some really beautiful stuff that happens there.

In a recent service, my pastor said something incredibly profound, and I want to share it with you.

He said that many people know that it's good to listen to yourself---you should try to understand and acknowledge the way that you are feeling. (Indeed, my section on empathy talks about this in depth.)

But it's also good to talk to yourself, because sometimes you need to speak truth to yourself.

Sometimes your emotions will be saying that you are a screw-up or that nothing matters, and you need to speak into that and remind yourself of all the people who love you and all of the good things in your life.

Sometimes your anger will be saying that another person is worth your hate, and you need to remind yourself the answer to anger is not hate but love.

Sometimes your anxiety will tell you that terrible things will happen if you try to accomplish your goals, and you need to  tell yourself that your fear is lying to you.

Speak truth to yourself today. You are an incredible, brave, beautiful person, and life holds so much promise for you. Don't let fear or depression or loneliness or anger blind you to the truth of who you are.

And hey.

Maybe speak truth to someone else, too.

Remind them that you care about them, and tell them about the greatness you see in them. Tell them that you are grateful to have them in your life, and tell them that they matter. Everyone needs to be reminded that they are loved and that they matter, so give that gift to someone today.

And don't be afraid to ask for that gift from someone else. If you're feeling weighed down, tell someone you need to talk. If it's too hard to speak truth to yourself, tell someone else how you're doing, and ask them to help encourage you.

We all need each other, amigos, and we all belong somewhere. Hold on to the truth of that.

your daily beautiful