I was searching YouTube videos on the topic “How to Make
Friends” and ran across a podcast by Matthew Hussey. I explored more of Matthew's writings and learned that Matthew recommends putting
many, many people in your “friendship funnel.” He recommends talking to
everyone: the service people, the people in front of or in back of you in line,
the person beside you on the subway, a person walking on the street. He also
recommends setting a goal of three five-minute conversations a day with
strangers.
I decided to put this exercise into practice that very day.
At one point in time I spoke on the phone with my Internet provider. The
representative paused as she waited for a screen to load. During that pause, as
I watched my contractor work, I voiced my thought, “My contractor brought his
little girl with him today; she’s helping him and she’s so cute!” Leticia eagerly
jumped in the conversation. “That is adorable! I’m pregnant so I have babies on
my mind!” Thus began a ten-minute conversation. We talked about how to prevent
other people from giving sugar to our children, her best friend and how cute
little girls are. I did, eventually, bring the conversation back to fixing my
service, but felt far happier for the interaction. I’m sure Leticia did too.
Americans, in general, are very good at talking with
strangers. Most people are open to the idea, enjoy the interaction and are
great at volunteering information and asking questions to keep the conversation
going. So why isn’t more of this going on? Why aren’t people happily engaged
with the people around them all day long?
Some people feel isolated and disconnected from the people
around them. Never fear, opening up conversations with strangers will solve
that!
Sometimes folks don’t dare to speak to the people around
them. This fear may come from the don’t-talk-to-strangers lessons we learned as
children. A few conversations will help dispel the notion that strangers are
dangerous. Most people are friendly and happy for a chance to connect with the
people around them.
People might forget to interact with others is their minds are full of thoughts. Of course, there are always times to focus
and get things done, but I find that even in business, if I show interest in the
people I work with and spend a few minutes chatting, things get done faster.
The day that I decided to hold 5-minute conversations with
strangers held a special electricity. It seemed that I had broken down some
invisible barrier and freed up some magical cosmic energy. I felt much happier
and freer at the end of that day than at the beginning.
Benefits of talking with strangers include seeing the world as a friendlier place, feeling more strongly connected to others, feeling a greater degree of freedom and enjoying moments that otherwise might be spent waiting and breaking out of habitual thought into new territory.
How can you begin more of these five-minute conversations
with strangers?
1.
- Voice a random thought. You might be surprised that the thought isn’t so random and that the other person can relate to it.
- Compliment another person about something he or she is wearing. Or you could ask that person where they got the item.
- Wear something unusual. I sometimes wear a very unique pendant that often leads to conversations with strangers.
- Ask a question. Let’s say you see someone in
front of you in the grocery store and they’re buying an unusual item. You could
ask how they cook it or if that item is especially tasty. Just voicing your
questions out loud to the next person you see can lead to a conversation. People love to share their knowledge!
No comments:
Post a Comment