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52 Conversation Topics You Can Actually Use for Good Conversation

Ever started a conversation, only to have it dry up like water in a hot desert? I’m sure you have many times if you’re shy like the old me. In a group, you’re seen as quiet, but one-on-one it is awkward when you run out of things to say. Is the solution to come up with good conversation topics?

A well-oiled list of conversation topics ready to roll out is only one part of what matters to have a good conversation – it isn’t your complete solution to make friends and influence people. Read more

Young woman shouting

Principles and Tips to Deal with Difficult People

The investigative in-law. The bossy boss. The crying child. The nasty neighbor. The cranky colleague. You may prefer to categorize them all as “jerks”. The list of “jerks” that make life miserable go on. Fortunately, there are principles and tips to help you deal with difficult people.

Principles do not change. Water is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom – this will not change. The North poles of two magnets repel – this will not change. Gravity rips you down to Earth – this will not change. The unchanging laws of science are parallel to the unchanging principles and laws of communication to deal with difficult people.

If you have a difficult person in your life, you may think he or she is impossible to deal with, yet the person is not an impenetrable rock. It’s human! And humans follow laws of psychology and behavior you can benefit from. This article will provide you with judo-like principles to convert seemingly impossible forces of a difficult person into tips to effectively deal with them. Read more

Infected email

16 Email Mistakes You Must Avoid: Email Etiquette

Poor email etiquette. You’re a victim of it and a guilty criminal. From unknown abbreviations, forwarded chain emails, and unwanted messages, bad email etiquette is a hidden social crime I’m here to purge from society.

Horrifying Statistics of Email Etiquette

The number of untrained email users is staggering. Former Chief Solutions Officer of Yahoo! Tim Sanders estimates that 90% of business communication is email based and only 10% of email users receive adequate training. The statistics now get nasty.

According to market research firm Radicati Group, 89 billion business emails were sent per day in 2012. There is expected to be 3.8 billion email accounts by 2014. This means an estimated 3.42 billion email accounts will be owned by people untrained in email come 2014.

Your workplace and business likely suffers from poor email etiquette. It isn’t getting better anytime soon unless you do something about it with the rules of email etiquette in this article.

Good Netiquette

Email etiquette, broadly referred to as “netiquette”, defines the rules of email communication. Netiquette is important because an email sent cannot be retrieved. You cannot reach through the computer cables to retrieve an email to your boss in a regretful emotional out-lash where you swore to destroy his dictatorship.

Netiquette is more than writing a grammatically correct email to a friend. It builds clarity, understanding, and productivity in everyday email communication. From having the right mindset when seated to sending an email, here are the most important email etiquette rules to follow so you’re one (or many) of the 380 million email account owners in 2014 that know what to do in their inbox: Read more

Guy and girl in love over the phone

Making Someone Fall in Love with You Over the Phone

Whether the person you talk to over the phone is a potential partner, client, or friend; whether you just met them or have known them your entire life; you can make someone fall in love with you or like you more over the phone. Like any communication skill, there are tips you can follow over the phone to speed up the relationship-building process.

Basic Rules to Make Someone Love You

The phone changes a few rules used in normal face-to-face communication, but not much else differs. The psychology of the two individuals at either end of the phone remain the same. Tips can be adapted to help you build your relationship. Read more

Two mind-readers

Dirty Tricks of Psychology to Read People’s Minds

Let me tell you an interesting story you will relate to. One day I was walking the golf course, caddying for my older brother Nathan who is a professional golfer and playing in a regional qualifier for the Australian Open. He started the day strongly with a few shots under par, but the turning point came on the eleventh hole when he hit a bad two-iron from the tee on a par 4. Being a left-hander, he pulled the golf ball left where it ended out-of-bounds. Following that eradicate shot, his quality of play did not improve for the remainder of the day.

At the end of the round, he failed to qualify for the national tournament by two shots. In the clubhouse we had a drink then talked about what he did well and what he could have done better. “I was surprised by the quality of your chip shots and game around the greens,” I remarked. “Everything went within 2 meters of the pin.” Not to concerned about the disappointed day, Nathan replied, “Yeah, you’re right. My wedge game was strong today. Just…” to which I interrupted and said, “The eleventh 2-iron.” He echoed my words, “Spot on, the eleventh 2-iron.”

I let him continue to talk as his words almost perfectly described the words in my mind. Something happened between our minds. It was like a magic trick taking place. A mystical cable connected our minds, leading to strange psychological phenomena. Read more

A woman with good body language is interesting

How to Be Interesting Without Saying a Word

How come a few rare people feel interesting yet they seem to do nothing? These people didn’t open their mouth to spark this tickle of curiosity. There is a list of characteristics about these people that I have learned to cultivate in myself that I’m going to share with you in this article – so you can be more interesting without having to say a word.

There are two aspects to communication: verbal and nonverbal communication. These interesting people do not say a word to make you curious about them so their interesting characteristics come from good nonverbal communication, narrowly known as body language. Good nonverbal communication makes you charming, and interesting. Read more

Social Intelligence

Review of Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

This is a book review of Daniel Goleman’s Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.

Goleman in his groundbreaking book reveals that human minds and bodies communicate with one another. The invisible bridges give us the ability to change people’s moods, emotions, and health – as people can do to us. Read more