Blogs

Blogs home | Blog news | My blog | Create a post | Hall of Fame Feedback

Hussain's blog

The Useful Blog

blogs.ibibo.com/anw001 RSS Feed

How to win new friends

Posted by Hussain in The Useful Blog on June 05, 2007 11:35:00 PM

Tags: friends friendship tips communication social

Making friends might be easy for some who have the special knack, but for most of us it is not such a simple task, specially if you are shy.

For such people who are not very good at making friends easily and fast, here are a few tips given below. Though these tips might not transform you overnight into a social hero, nonetheless they should be helpful in improving your people skills.

1. Just be yourself:
You'll be better off being yourself rather than trying to imitate somebody else or trying to come off as someone you are not. Being yourself means to accept yourself with all your
weaknesses as well as strengths;being comfortable inspite of some shortcomings u might have. Find ways to minimize or deal with ur shortcomings rather than trying to hide them or being ashamed of them.

If someone makes a rude remark about ur weakness, it is best to keep ur cool and ignore the impolite remarks. Try not to take them personally. Being yourself might take some practise, but once u become comfortable being as u are, others r likely to consider u cool and this trait might gain u a lot of fans.

2. Be optimistic.
Having a positive outlook of life and events should help u win more friends and admirers than having a pessimistic view of things. People like to associate with positive persons.

3. Listen more than u talk.
We can accomplish much more when we learn to focus on others, so improve ur listening skills. Instead of just pretending to listen and simply nodding ur head, pay attention to what the other person is saying. Read my tips on improving listening skills

4. Practice interacting with people.
If u r of the reserved kind, it will help if u start interacting more with people. If u r afraid that people might make fun of u, then a good way to overcome this problem is to interact more with older people as they are less likely to ridicule u. Once u become comfortable
interacting with older people, u can start interacting with younger people as well. You may read these tips too for better conversation: Conversation tips

5. Look for positive things in others.
Try to overcome the habit of finding faults in people, instead look for positives. This can have two benefits: Firstly, it will make others appreciate u as well and secondly this habit can help in improving ur own self-esteem. Finding good qualities and positive traits in others and encouraging them is likely to have a similar effect on your own self.

6. Surround yourself with people you want to be like.
Surrounding yourself with role models can speed up your learning and improvement.

7. Never put yourself down.
Respect urself first before expecting others to respect u. A person who does not value his own self is unlikely to value and respect others. Read here a tip to improve self-esteem

8. Become genuinely interested in people.
If u want to develop a pleasing personality and win many friends, then u have to become
genuinely interested in people. You have to show regard and kindness to them and overcome selfishness. Keep in mind that your interest and kindness should be genuine and not a show as people might make out the difference between an authentic and fake attitude.

9. Avoid arguments as much as you can.
Remember that the way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. If you encounter people who are aggressive and difficult to handle, read the following tips: difficult people

10. If u want to ask someone for help in something, begin first with something positive about the person. Cite how something they’ve done was highly effective and struck you positively. This way the person is more likely to help you.

References:
A few websites I referred to while collecting the above tips:

http://www.wikihow.com/Socialize,-Be-Funny-and-Make-Friends
http://www.summitconsulting.com/articles/vol-2-7.html
http://freebusinesstips.com.au/people/how-to-win-friends-in-five-seconds

Rate this post: