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Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

bbc.com

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Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#111
post #31
post #9

Iwonder if the existence of said "tips"is why many people find others insincere.

People tend to find others insincere when it seems like the other person is trying or practicing rather than just acting naturally. Unfortunately, social interactions are a skill, and for many people this skill could use some work, so this becomes a catch-22. Trying or practicing is a prerequisite for getting better, but it seems unnatural and/or awkward at first. Of course, some people just rattle off canned lines a…

Exactly. This is one of the reasons I hate talking to salespeople, too many of their lines are just canned responses learned from books and seminars

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#112
post #4

The article mentions getting someone to like you unnaturally fast to divulge information. This happened to me once. I was a character reference for a friend who needed security clearance for a position in the UK, and they sent a a guy to come and interview me. About 45 minutes later I came out of the room and quickly realised I'd been mined for information (all good, luckily for my friend). While it was happening it…

Can you elaborate on this? It sounds really interesting. In retrospect what did they do to disarm you?

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#113
post #2

Any good book recommendations on engaging small talk and authentic first impressions? I’m headed to a weeklong NYE retreat that has a tendency to dredge up high school cafeteria level social anxieties.

Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends And Influence People is the classic small talk book. TL;DR: people like to talk about themselves and listeners make good conversationalists.

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#114
post #92
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think this sounds stupid - try, it works surprisingly well!

I think I had someone try this on me- I just recall thinking they were a patronizing ass.

Yeah it's more of a thing to say when you can't think of anything else..

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#115
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a book, but I've found that asking people what they do and being genuinely interested in it (especially if it's a job you know nothing about) is a treasure trove of interesting information. For example, if you meet a plumber, you can get hours of conversation out of just talking about the various aspects of the jobs. Although I guess it helps that I like learning about other jobs, too, and I tend to ask people to…

Definitely. I love talking to people about their work, whatever it is. It's an easy way to get someone to open up to you and you're bound to learn a few things if you're willing to display your lack of knowledge in their domain. If you approach the conversation with candor, it rarely seems trite

I like to ask people about the strangest/largest/farthest/most unexpected/whatever they have experienced in their work. It shows genuine interest and lets people talk about what they know in a natural story format and since they are taking about something they have witnessed, they don't necessarily need to talk about themselves if they are not comfortable with that.

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#116
post #2

Any good book recommendations on engaging small talk and authentic first impressions? I’m headed to a weeklong NYE retreat that has a tendency to dredge up high school cafeteria level social anxieties.

I just finished listening to "The Like Switch" [1] and it covers a lot of ground on how to hit it off with people. It starts with non-verbal behaviors to look friendly to people when they first see you and then slowly transitions into how to make them like you more when talking to them.

I'm on a holiday now and I'm trying to apply some of the things I've learned. I feel like I'm getting good results. A lot of the suggestions are similar to what I've read in other books; especially the "How to win friends and influence people", which signals to me that these things are core principles rather than tricks found out by individual authors.

One thing I've learned from these books. All of these techniques need you to have a degree of self-confidence in-order to apply them. That's something I'm working on right now, but overall I think these books (and similar ones) have a lot of good info to offer for shy non-communicative people like me.

[1]: https://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/The-Like-Switch-...

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#117

One tip mentioned is to raise your eyebrows. As example: when you first meet someone, raise your eyebrows slightly (or one), smile, and tilt your head and greet them. Making someone else feel special makes you charming. Along the same lines: I find that voice cadences, and inflection, work pretty well for being charming! Take time to enuncicate the whole sentence you want to say, throw emotion into your words. And if…

Take time to enuncicate the whole sentence you want to say, throw emotion into your words.

That is how the French talk. It always seems like they are telling you a story.

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#118
Be careful with this. Attempting to be charming in this way means you've taken one branch over an alternate branch. And at least in the U.S., very few people will be willing to tell you the costs once you've made the decision, especially if you are extraordinarily bad at being charming.

For example: at the beginning of "The Little Prince", the narrator describes his childhood drawing of a snake eating an elephant which he uses to test the people he meets as an adult. If the person tells him, "that is a snake eating an elephant," he knows he is safe to talk about "important" things in life. If the person instead tells him, "that is a hat," he talks about superficial things.

But it's actually worse than that, because in the book there is only a single person-- the narrator-- who is judging the character of others. But when someone attempts to "work" a room by being charming, they immediately telegraph their intentions to the entire room at once. And everyone else immediately adjusts their behavior accordingly.

And Americans will not only gloss over the inneffectual charms of others, they will actively lie to avoid the conflict of calling someone else a phony. So if you try to charm, there's no way to get trustworthy feedback on your progress.

On the other hand-- if we're discussing something I care deeply about, there is little to gain by you staring at my irises for the correct amount of time. Beautiful smile or not, at some point you're going to respond in words to what I'm saying. At that point you're either clearly demonstrating your comprehension and interest, or you are so quick-witted and devious that I probably want to get to know you anyway out of sheer fascination (at least on a short-term basis).

Re: Tricks to make yourself effortlessly charming

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, if you do these things wrong you've just plunged yourself into the uncanny valley, and are now creepy.

It's a fine line, isn't it? Ha! You're correct of course. To anyone with fear of being creepy: my good friend shared a video with me recently on vulnerability. It forced me to rewire my brain: https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability One item I'd add to the article on being charming: be vulnerable . Vulnerability is relatable, it's genuine.

How did this TED Talk affect you? I watched it, but I can't say I feel a great sense of unworthiness in my life.
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