Talk to strangers

Kill intellectual curiosity and shut yourself off from interesting opportunities by not talking to strangers!

Or, talk to somebody you’ve not spoken to before, enlarge your horizons and open the door to new things by striking up a chat with the next person you see.

Practically it doesn’t always come naturally to start talking to somebody you’ve not met before. You risk being met with a blank silence, with an awkward shuffling away, with the words “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

BIG DEAL!

Here’s how you do it:

1. Identify stranger. Stranger may be sitting next to you on an airplane, or waiting in a line with you at the post office, or clinging to a wall at a party, desperate not to talk.
2. Smile at stranger. Briefly. Make eye contact. Briefly. Do not grin and not your head enthusiastically.
3. Say something. Good things to say include:

• Hello
• How do you know Bob?
• Is anybody sitting here?
• Boy. I’ve had a long day. It’s good to put my feet up. What about you. Have you come far?
• Can you help me? I’m wondering if I should buy the blue or the green dressing gown. My normally excellent dressing-gown taste-radar has gone into melt-down and I’m having trouble choosing.

Slightly riskier things to say include:

• Have you ever seen a dead body?
• Can you hold this large unwrapped block of stinking cheese for forty-five minutes while I go for a jog?
• What’s the square root of 956?
• You look just like my stepmother. She used to beat me.

Then carry on. It will either work out or it won’t. Ask open-ended questions or tell a story.

If it’s not working out, move on. If it is working out, find a way to follow up.

A great way to follow up is to connect people.

“My friend Augustus is really into pre-Byzantine fashion and is looking for a historical dressmaker. I think the two of you would get on. Do you mind if I put you in touch? Do you have an email address?”

“If you’re serious about getting your teeth fixed, let me send you the name of my teenage daughter’s orthodontist. What’s your email address?”

“Gee, I think you’re cute, but I’m married. I have a single friend, though. Let me put you in touch.”

BANG! You’ve just communicated with another human being and there’s one less stranger in the world.

Say goodbye to an old age filled with cats and ready-meals. Say hello to a lifetime of PARTY.4E3C3B4KBHWA