Captivate

Today, we’re whelming in a flood of content and clickbait – a cascade of Facebook and Instagram posts, emails and chats, news both fake and real. In this environment of digitized interaction, good social skills are becoming rarer, and therefore more valuable.

Have you ever encountered someone who is absolutely magnetic? Such a person can enter a crowded room and instantly capture everyone’s attention. But these people weren’t necessarily born charismatic. In fact, making a great first impression is a skill that almost anyone can learn.

Improving your social skills by:

• Control social situations by focusing on your strengths and the people who matter.
• Use your hands, posture and eye contact to make a good first impression.
• Decode people’s feelings by studying their subtle facial expressions.
• Identifying more complex microexpressions can give you even more information.
• Get to know others better by looking out for five major personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
• Use specific types of stories to connect with others. This is a collection of stories that contain trigger topics, sparking stories and boomerangs.
• Sharing vulnerabilities connects people, and asking for advice is a great way to appear more personable.