Improve Your Listening Skills by Paying More Attention

In order to be a good leader and exceptional speaker, I feel you need to be a good listener too. Too few people I guess have this ability whereas it is such an important one to have.

If you have a hard time focusing on what others are saying then you need to improve your listening skills a great deal. If you can easily pay attention to other people and don't interrupt in between then you probably have good listening skills already.

If you improve your listening skills you can become a good communicator. Your speaking skills can improve automatically too.

One of the better tips to improve your listening skills is to pay full concentration to other people. When they talk, do not keep thinking of your reply. Pay full attention to their talk.

People will appreciate this a lot. They want to be heard and listened to. In turn, they might listen you out more carefully. In this way you can get your message across to others more easily than being hasty in speech.

It also lets you understand others more easily and better. Hence you can craft out your replies in a better fashion. So you see, it is important to improve your listening skills by paying more importance and attention to others.

If you believe that what the other person has to say is important, then you might find it easier to listen to him. Having such a belief and attitude can greatly help in improving your listening skills.

If you feel the other person and his views are not important and if you have a closed mind, then it is difficult to pay attention to their talk.

So you see it is a matter of belief and attitude. Having the right attitude when it comes to communication is a great benefit for yourself and others with whom you are interacting.

Why Are Our Lives Stressed? The Root Cause of It All

Today I read a truly excellent article related to stress. This article completely changed my thinking about stress management.

Nowadays there is a lot of noise and cry about stress management. We are told to find the causes of stress in our life and then learn how to handle it efficiently.

I had read a great deal of such articles and wrote a few of them myself. But this article I read today completely changed my thinking on this topic. It made me realize the true cause of stress in our lives.

Too often we think that our jobs, work pressure, family relations, financial problems etc are the cause of our stress filled lives. Even I used to think so. We were busy finding ways to reduce stress in different areas of our lives.

While it may be true that these outside factors might be contributing a lot towards our feeling stressed out, but the real reason lies within us and not outside of us.

Outside factors do have an importance. But think about this for a moment - 2 persons with similar work pressures or family problems might feel different levels of stress. One may be greatly stressed while the other may be coping with it a little better.

What is the reason for this? The reason is because the latter individual has better control of his emotions and is not willing to let stress ruin his life.

This has been a big awakening of sorts for me. My focus has completely shifted from outside factors to our inner selves for dealing and overcoming stress in our lives.

Its true, we do have to find ways to eliminate problems in our lives and solve various issues. But whether we let outside factors affect us or not is our decision.

The real reason why we are worried and stressed out is that we let these factors get the better of us. We are letting our problems create havoc in our lives. If we decide not to get disturbed and not to lose peace of mind inspite of problems, then the problems would probably lose all power to destroy our peace.

Our worrying and fears do not do anything positive in solving our problems. So why spend time and waste energy in needless worrying.

I am not saying that you should not take steps to solve your problems. Infact, do your best to resolve difficulties and problems that come your way. But do not waste your energies in worrying and panic.

Learn to take positive steps for dealing with any difficult situation without getting bothered too much or getting desperate. If we can learn this self-control, then many problems of our lives will not be able to affect us mentally or emotionally.

We can become mentally tough individuals who can handle difficult as well as easy situations with strength, resolve and a positive attitude. Stress might get far away from our lives. We may not need to read stress related stuff or try pills to reduce our anxieties.

Self control is the key. We should try and live in the present, without being too much bothered about what the future holds for us. Let us try and do the best we can today.

When tomorrow comes, we shall meet the problems and challenges that come with it with this same attitude. This way we can lead our whole lives without being consumed by stress and panic.

The main cause of stress in our lives is ourselves. Being affected by problems, constant worrying about problems, worrying about future, blowing things out of proportion and imagining the worst - these are some of the root causes of stress.

If we work on these habits, then we can attain permanent relief from stress. Sure, problems will still come and go in our lives, but they will hopefully not affect us in the way they have been doing so.

If you feel the need for professional help then have a look at - Mental health psychologist India
Sometimes we are too much stressed, overworked and exhausted or overwhelmed. We may not know where to begin. Though this may happen very rarely, most of the time we can treat the problem on our own, but it is sometimes help to take outside assistance from a qualified, experienced professional to speed up the process. MindoMind offers such help on confidential basis.

16 Public Speaking Delivery Tips: Moving from Bad Public Speaking To Good

Few people realize the importance of public speaking. They are always trying to avoid public speaking opportunities.

Instead of trying to avoid, we should try and improve our speech skills, learn how to get rid of public speaking fears and anxiety, learn some useful public speaking delivery tips and mark out a strategy, etc.

Those who try to avoid speaking in public, are letting go of very useful and excellent opportunities to improve themselves, their careers or business, get their ideas across to many people and earn handsomely. Famous public speakers can earn in thousands

The main aim of public speaking would be to get your message across to the audience and make them 'interested in what you want to say.'


One of the best ways to make the audience interested is to focus each of your speech to address some of the problem which the audience is facing.

If you are trying to solve a problem for your audience, then anything you say would be of interest to them, wouldn't it? Bad public speaking is where you focus entirely on yourself and not keep the audience's needs in mind.

Here are 16 simple public speaking delivery tips which should enhance your effectiveness while on stage:

1. Tone of voice: How you say something can be more important than what you say. Vary the tone of your voice and avoid monotony otherwise your audience might doze off.


2. Eliminate Umm'ss and Aaah's: While speaking, sometimes you may get stuck and take time to think of what or how to say. At such times, many people may make sounds like Ummmh or Aaah etc.

This kind of thing may make you look stupid. Avoid doing it as it is a bad public speaking practice.

Instead of that remain silent for a few moments while trying to come up with something to say. Silent pauses are better than making such sounds.


3. Pace: Nervousness and public speaking go hand in hand. If you are nervous, you may tend to speak fast.

It is important to speak slowly and clearly. If your words are not clear, then its very difficult to make any sort of good impression on the audience.


4. Volume: The volume of your voice is also very important. It should not be too high so that it looks as if you are shouting, nor should it be so low that the people have difficulty in hearing
you.

5. Get to the point quickly: While giving speech, it is better if you get to the point you want to make quickly and not beat around the bush for long.

You don't need to tell the audience everything you know about a subject, but only of what they need to know. Try to pick out only the most relevant and best information to give to your audience.

Studies have shown that the people remember very few facts that were conveyed during the speech anyway. So stay with the most important information.


6. Pay attention to your arms: Its important that you do not fidget with your arms. Also remember not to put your hands in pocket, nor place them behind the back.

It is preferable to leave the hands comfortably by your sides. They should also move freely so as to allow free and natural-looking gestures.


7. Posture: Keep a relaxed and upright posture while giving speech. Leaning either forward or backward should be avoided. Keep your legs shoulder width apart in order to get good balance.

8. Correcting your mistakes gracefully: If you make a mistake and it is obvious, do not apologize. Just make the necessary correction and carry on with your speech.

9. Preparation: Prepare well for your speech as that can prevent panic. Preparation consists of knowing the audience and knowing the subject.

Know the needs of your audience and match your content accordingly. Also know the subject thoroughly so that you can approach the stage with self-confidence.

10. Calmness: Appear calm and relaxed even if you feel nervous inside. Speak slowly and clearly, put necessary emotions in your voice.

11. Technique to make yourself be heard by everyone in the room: Speak to the person farthest away from you so that you voice can be heard clearly by everybody. See how nicely this technique works.

12. Conviction: Speak with conviction as if you really believe in whatever you are saying (as you should, otherwise why are you saying it). The conviction should reflect in your voice, tone and gestures.

13. Pauses: Pause at times during your speech to allow yourself and the audience time to reflect and think. Do not just rush through the presentation leaving everyone out of breath.

14. Attention grabbing: Attention spans of audience can be short. So every few minutes you should try and catch their attention by doing things like fluctuating your voice, telling an anecdote, moving around the room, asking them a question etc.

Think of ways you can catch the faltering attention of the audience again.

15. Slowing down at important junctures: Slow down for important points in order to emphasize them. Important points should be given special emphasis. Slowing down your pace can provide that.

16. Have fun. It all boils down to how much fun you had on the stage, how much relaxed you felt while giving the speech, and how much did the audience it. Try to control your nerves if you want to make a huge impact with public speaking.

If you are relaxed and enjoying every moment of your speech, it will most likely be enjoyable for the audience as well.

Conclusion:
The above tips should prove useful to you in giving a good presentation or speech on the stage.
All these tips should help you develop your own strategy. These are high impact public speaking strategies which most top public speakers adopt (either consciously or by habit).

If you are interested in improving this skill, you should read more public speaking books, practice and get on the stage whenever you get a chance to do so. To learn more about how you can become a very good public speaker, I recommend the following resources to you:

1. FAQ on public speaking - This guide can help you with answering some of the most burning questions about public speaking. The topics covered range from how to make your speech interesting, what does it mean to be yourself, how to convert fear into positive energy, how to prepare a speech, differentiate yourself from other speakers by discovering your 'purple cow' and many other topics.

2. Speaking With Confidence - This guide shows you how to prepare a powerful speech using a 9 step plan, how to organize your speech, how to sound natural and enthusiastic, build rapport with the audience, answer hostile questions, manage speech anxiety and lot more.

3. You can also refer to an additional resource on public speaking benefits and how you can earn lot of money through it here - Speaking for Millions


More Articles on This Blog:
1. 10 Speech Delivery Tips
2. Are you anxious of an upcoming speech?
3. 22 Tips to handle stress

Difference between poor and good salesmen

You might have heard that people need to have good talking skills in order to be good salesman. But this is not true. We do not need to be a great talker in order to be a good salesman. However there is something else we need to be good at in order to succeed at selling. Read on to know about it.

If someone has excellent talking skills, then it might certainly be to his/her advantage in selling but this skill is not an absolutely necessity. More than talking skills, what we need are excellent listening skills.

If you get a chance to observe or study about successful salespeople, you can notice how each one of them pays special undivided attention to the customer. They listen intently to what the customer is saying, watch their gestures and reactions and notice even tiny movements and facial expressions of the customers.

They want to find out what kind of effect they are having on the customers and they are interested in learning the problems, goals and priorities of the customer. Almost all successful salesmen without exception are good at listening skills.

If you are able to study and observe in detail good and poor salesmen, you may certainly notice that one major difference between them is that poor salesmen are usually poor listeners. They usually do not pay proper attention to the customer and are more focused on what they have to say.

These poor salesmen usually believe that selling means to impress the customer with your talking skills and knowledge about the product.

They, poor salesmen, just go on babbling about their product, service or company without stopping to see if the customer is really interested in their speech or not.

The good salesmen on the other hand, pay close attention to the customers and try to gain as much knowledge of the customers as possible. They try to find out what the customer's needs are and whether their product or service can satisfy those needs or not.

If we are trying to market something to people, we all should start our selling by knowing the customers' needs first before we even start our talk.

By first gaining as much knowledge about the customer as possible, and knowing about their needs and buying criteria, we can easily focus our selling efforts on those things so that we have an excellent chance of making a sale.

So you see, selling is not about making a great sales pitch. Its more about asking the right questions, finding out answers to all the important questions about your customer and knowing about them first. This is possible only if we pay close attention and listen properly to the customer.

In order to be able to give ourselves enough to work with, it is recommended to know atleast 3 needs of our customer before we begin talking about our product or service. By gaining as much knowledge as possible about our customer, we can be in a better position to convince him/her to try out our product/service.

We can gain knowledge about our customer by asking questions and listening intently to them. For this we need to work on our listening skills. We need to develop our listening skills a lot.

Always try to remember that selling is not a one-sided affair, but a two way communication. It is not just about talking about our products but also about listening to customer's needs.

Good selling is about knowing your customer's needs, problems and priorities and then working out and mentioning how our product or service can satisfy those needs.

Altruism Study - Brain Effects of Altruism

Do you know what is altruism? A rough definition of altruism is the act of giving unselfishly without expecting returns. We do not expect any return favors in our heart and just want to help others.

We all would agree that altruism helping behavior is good but do you think giving to others unselfishly is beneficial to the giver in any way?

Do you think this helping behavior has any benefits to our health, self-esteem or our brain? Read on to be pleasantly surprised.


The Brain Effects of Altruism - Increasing Brain Power:
Surprise! Surprise! A new and interesting research suggests that it can help in increasing brain power. Yes you read it right!!!

It seems that both receiving and giving activate pleasure centers in our brain which give us instant gratification. However while giving, a couple of other brain regions in the cerebral cortex are also activated which is not the case while receiving.

So the act of giving might strengthen certain regions of our brain that are involved in higher levels of thinking, specially related to social interactions.

The act of giving might improve your skills of interaction with people, which can increase your
self-esteem. If you just care to receive things then you are thinking short term but if you are always willing to help and give then you are thinking long-term, even though you may not realize it at that time. So we now know a good method of how to increase brain power.

Isn't this an interesting and useful bit of information. I read about this research in the following article - Can giving Improve your brain ?


While this might be interesting to read, but it is not surprising to me because I have always believed that following Islamic injunctions would help me in many different ways. This new study just confirms my belief.

This study should make us adopt altruistic behavior and encourage our children to do so too. Try to increase altruism in yourself and children.

We would also need to change our thinking about helping others at our workplace. Altruism should be adopted everywhere - at home, workplace, neighborhood, while walking on streets etc. We have got another reason to be good to others and help with a clean heart.

Helpful Resources:
1. Do you want to learn how to control your nerves, handle anxiety and let go of panic? Click here.

2. Feel low on energy? What if you learn how to sleep 3 hours less each day and still have more energy than before - no need to drag through the day and procrastinate because you feel too lazy to do anything.

Other Interesting Articles on this site:
1. Obtain great success by just changing your outlook
2. How to improve quality of your work
3. Tips to prevent headache

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How to win more friends

I recently wrote an article in my other blog about tips to make more friends. I listed about 10 simple personality traits that can help in attracting the love, affection and respect of more people.

The 10 tips I mentioned in my article are briefly listed below:
1. What it means to just be yourself
2. Being optimistic
3. Listen intently (more than you talk)
4. Interact more with older people
5. Look for positives in others
6. Surround yourself with people you want to be like
7. Respect yourself (don't put yourself down)
8. Develop genuine interest in other people
9. Avoid arguments
10. The proper method of asking others for help.

If you try to incorporate the above tips in your daily interactions with people, then they should help to win you many friends and admirers. Read my full article at:
How to win more friends

How to Improve Communication Skills & Become More Assertive By Giving Up Just 1 Habit

The secret to getting better at communication skills and becomeing more assertive is to let go of the need for people's approval. When you no longer need their approval, your nervousness will fade away and you begin to feel free to express your desires and opinions.

As you start to express yourself more freely, you come across as a charismatic person. Letting go of the habit of seeking people's approval will also make you more assertive, you will be able to say no when you want to.

When you constantly seek approval and acceptance, you place yourself in a position of weakness while interacting with people. It destroys your peace of mind, drains your energy,makes you tongue-tied and afraid to speak out your mind in front of others.

However this doesn't mean that you should give a damn about other people. Ofcourse you have to be considerate about people and behave in a responsible manner. But at the same time, you should stop trying to please all people at all times, and start saying things which you really think and feel rather than what others want to hear.

Does this all make sense to you? If it does, lets move on to the important question:how do I give up this habit?

The below given exercises should help you to a certain degree, if you practise them seriously.

Exercise 1:
The first step to overcome this habit is to become aware while you are doing it. This exercise is to help you become more aware.

For the next several days, whenever you catch yourself saying or doing something to please others, stop right in your tracks - freeze. Then instead of that do or say something which you really want to.

Monitor yourself in this fashion for 2-3 weeks and change your behaviour whenever you find yourself seeking other's approval. Initially it may seem difficult, but with practise you can soon begin to develop the habit of acting according to your own will.


Exercise 2:
This is a fun exercise which can also serve as a feedback tool for how well you are progressing.

For the next few weeks, whenever you have interacted with someone, give yourself + or -- points depending on your interaction. If you were able to speak or act according to your will, give yourself positive points ranging from +1 to +10. However if you could not muster up the courage and acted out of fear of people, give yourself negative points from -1 to -10. Keep a sheet of paper with you with date written on top of it and keep adding your + and - points to that sheet. At the end of the day calculate your total score. This will give you an idea about how you fared during the day and will also motivate you to improve yourself further tomorrow.


If you follow the above 2 exercises for a few weeks, you may notice considerable improvement in your behaviour. You may start interacting with people with new found freedom, courage, confidence and assertiveness. Your bold attitude may win you admirers and drive away your social phobias. If you feel discomfort in social settings, suffer from social phobia and want to overcome it, check out this resource: Beat Social Anxieties & Do Not Be Prisoner of Your Own Thoughts


Related Articles:
1.Tips for dealing with difficult people, 2.Tips for dealing with negative people, 3.Manage stress at workplace, 4.Overcome fears through education, 5.Overcome negative self-image,6.Tips to become a good listener

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Tips To Develop Listening Skills

Developing listening skills are very important for various reasons. Here are some of the many benefits you get out of becoming a good listener.


Benefits of being a good listener:
1. When you listen to the other person with full attention, it shows that you are giving respect to the person. By giving the person respect, you gain his respect and love.

2. The other guy inturn will listen carefully to what you have got to say.

3. Listening skills will help you in knowing more about the person which can be helpful in your professional life as well as personal life. ( Imagine the benefits if you can know and understand your boss, colleagues, customers, spouse, friends, neighbours etc. better).

4. By knowing more about the other person, you increase your chances of making friends with him/her. You endear yourself in their eyes.

5.You can improve relationships with people by being a good and sympathetic listener to their concerns and problems.

6. Listening skills help in improving conversation skills, and you can avoid many confusions, misunderstandings and conflicts if only you develop the willingness to lend more attentive ears to the speaker.

Now that you know some of the benefits of listening skills, read below a few tips to help you become a good listener:

1. Be willing to become a good listener:
In order to become a good listener, the first step is to develop the willingness. If you are not willing to do something you will not make the effort. In order to develop willingness, understand the benefits of becoming a good listener. Read the above benefits and try to realize their importance.


2. Respect the other person:
Unless you respect the other person, you will be unwilling to lend an attentive ear to him/her. If you develop the habit of respecting everyone, you may find that people start respecting you more too. In addition to respect, also try to develop genuine interest and liking for people. This will add warmth to your interactions with them.


3. Focus completely on the speaker:
Focus on the speaker and what is being said rather than thinking or composing your own reply, otherwise you will miss many of the things the speaker is saying.


4. Face the speaker, nod your head and provide visual cues that you are paying attention to him/her.


5.Dont interrupt: Let the speaker finish his statement before you reply. If you want to interrupt the speaker or raise a point, be patient till you get a chance.


6. Give oral encouragements like "I see", "I understand", "I agree" etc. which will send signals to the speaker that you are really listening to him or her.



7. Occasionally summarize and repeat back in your own words what you understand of what they’re saying so that they know you’re hearing them and also to prevent any misunderstandings and confusion. Summarizing what you have understood of the other person can help in confirming that you have got the message correctly, or else - if you had misunderstood the message the other person can correct his/her stand immediately.



8. If you wish to remember a certain piece of information which the speaker is saying, repeat it back immediately and aloud. Then, as soon as its convenient, write down that information which you want to remember.



9. While at a meeting or conference, take notes.
This will help you in remembering key information. The notes can also be helpful for discussions at that meeting.



10. Even if the speaker becomes silent for some time or is thinking of something, dont try to rush and fill up the silence. Give the speaker a chance to compose his/her thought.


11. Ask questions:
Asking questions is a very effective way of showing that you are paying attention. It also helps in keeping the conversation alive and can provide opportunity for further discussions on a particular topic.


12. Try to be relaxed:
Whether you are standing or sitting, try to be relaxed and comfortable so that you can pay better attention to the speaker. If you feel discomfort, then it is likely to distract your attention.


13. Give proper feedback:
People sometimes would be interested in your opinion about a topic. Provide an honest feedback whenever you are asked or where it is appropriate.


14. Develop interest in the other person:
Become curious about the person with whom you are talking. Being curious about another person helps to validate that person as interesting. On the other hand, showing indifference will give the impression that the speaker is uninteresting and boring. By becoming curious about the other person, you will find that most of the above mentioned listening tips come automatically to you.


15. While asking questions, try not to ask more than one question at a time. Give him/her chance to respond to one question before throwing another one at him/her.


When Should You Stop Listening?
You also need to know when to stop listening. Having good listening skills does not mean that you allow others to waste too much of your time, or encourage them to indulge in useless gossip, running down other people or complaining of life's problems etc. You have to know when to stop encouraging the person if he/she crosses reasonable limits.


Products you may like:
1. Are You Listening? The science of improving your listening ability for a better understanding of people

2. Lighten Up: Survival Skills for People Under Pressure

3. Winning Ways to Succeed with People: 7 Powerful Skills


Related Articles:
1.How to make people like you, 2.How to deal with negative people, 3.Are you failing despite persistence?, 4.Tips to improve concentration




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Easy Anger Management Technique

If you have a wild temper and want to tame it, here is a simple technique to help you eliminate the habit of anger.

Find out something that you love doing. It can be any activity like fishing, gardening, swimming, cooking, going for a walk, stitching. Any activity which keeps you busy, which you enjoy doing and which can take your mind off anger for some time will do.

Now after you have chosen an activity that suits you best, make sure you keep doing it every time you fell anger building up within you. Move away for some time from the situation or person that is making you angry and use this time to indulge in your chosen activity, long enough till the anger vanishes. If you keep doing this, the frequency of your temper outbursts is likely to get reduced. Eventually you can become more controlled and can conquer your anger habit quite easily.


Recommended Products to help you:
1.Anger Management - Regaining control of your anger
2.For parents: Child Anger Management - Learn How To Deal With Your Aggressive Child


Related Articles:
1.Dealing with negative people, 2.Tips to handle difficult people, 3.3 steps to benefit from failures, 4.22 tips to handle stress, 5.3 steps for a good night's sleep



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How To Deal With Negative People

You may have a friend or relative who is always complaining about something or the other. Such complainers are usually negative people who look for fault in everything and everybody. They do not know how to enjoy life and sulk over the minutest of things. They have little confidence in their themselves and may also try to discourage others.


If you just listen to them silently go with their complaints, it can affect your thinking also. If you try to stop them, they may take offense. Even trying to reason with them may not help much. So what can you do if you run into such people?

The best way would be not to argue with them in order to bring them out of their negativity. Instead, respond to them with your own optimistic views. Listen calmly to their complaints then give a positive response. After some time they too may start seeing the positive side of things. Even if they are unwilling to accept your positive views, atleast they will stop bothering you. This approach is far better than mere arguing with them to adopt more positive outlook.


Helpful Resources for you:
1. Are You Listening? The science of improving your listening ability for a better understanding of people

2. Lighten Up: Survival Skills for People Under Pressure

3. Winning Ways to Succeed with People: 7 Powerful Skills


Related Articles
1.Tip to make people like you, 2.How to deal with difficult people, 3.Stress Management at workplace, 4.Anger management technique



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Easy tip to make people like you

Here is a simple tip to make people to like you. Whenever you are conversing with someone, find something about them which you like. It could be anything - their smile, the way they stand,
their walk, their confidence, their neat appearance etc. Just find something which you genuinely like and appreciate.

While talking to them, focus on the thing which you like about them. This appreciation will reflect in your eyes and people will start liking you almost instantly.

If you don't believe this technique is so effective, recall a time when you saw real appreciation for yourself in the eyes of somebody else and remember how you wonderful you felt. Others are likely to feel the same way.


Books You May Like:
1. How I Destroyed My Shyness And Social Anxiety By Playing mind Games! A Radical New Method Presented By Acclaimed Personal Development Coach, Jon Mercer. Users Love The Social Strategies!

2.People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts

Tips for Dealing With Aggressive People & Handling Difficult People

Before reading this article, check out this resource: Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Answers  
 
You may encounter agressive and difficult people at workplace, among friends,relatives, neighbours etc. If you have to deal with such people on a regular basis and don't know how to deal with them properly then it might be cause you considerable amount of stress and discomfort. Below are a few tips to help you deal with them in a better manner:

Some Don'ts:

Lets first discuss the don'ts which you have to guard against while dealing with difficult people.

1. First and foremost don't take their behaviour personally. Most of them behave in a difficult manner habitually and their attitude is not directed specifically towards you alone.

2. Don't try to fight with them. Fighting with them may only complicate matters further and can pave the way for a bigger argument.

3. Dont try to win the argument: Dont approach the argument with the mindset of winning it and proving the other person wrong. You may prove them wrong but that is unlikely to change their future behaviour. Instead of trying to win the argument, try to work towards a reasonable solution which will be in the best interests of everyone concerned. Remember your goal is simply to assertively express your own opinion, not try and win a battle of right and wrong.



How to cope with difficult people:

Now that we have seen some of the dont's, lets see some tips about what to do when people are making life difficult for us.


1. Overly aggressive people expect others to either submit to their wishes or to fight against them. So dont do either of those. Instead, stand up for yourself without fighting. Be calm and polite with them and do not shout back. Remaining calm and composed inspite of their shouting is the best response you can give to difficult people. They will usually not expect such behaviour and would be suprised.


2. Wait for them to run out of some steam, then respond with your views in a polite yet firm and confident manner. Its important that you don't interrupt them in the middle of their speech which can make them more angry. Instead wait calmly for them to finish, then take a deep breath, call the person by name and express your opinion. This is a far more effective approach.

Keep in mind that dealing with difficult people takes time,so be patient. You may not be able to change their behaviour but using the above tips you can atleast improve your own response and can stop letting their behaviour affect you negatively.

Don;t forget to check out this resource: Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Answers

Additional Resources to help you:

People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts





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How to have a conversation effortlessly

Do you find it difficult to keep a conversation going? Do you feel awkward and tongue-tied while meeting new people?

Below are some tips to help you improve social interaction skills:


1. Be knowledgeable:
First and foremost you should have atleast some sort of knowledge about different topics. For that you have to be a voracious reader. It has been said that "readers are leaders." A person who develops the habit of reading will know something about many different topics and can hold conversations with many people of different backgrounds and interests.

People who keep themselves updated about trade news, health and environmental information, current affairs etc. rarely find themselves struggling to keep up a conversation. So invest some time in increasing your knowledge.


2. Ask open ended questions:
Instead of asking close-ended questions which can be answered by yes or no, ask open-ended questions which will force the other person to respond in a more elaborate manner.

If you find that you do not have any topics to talk about, you can use this simple technique to keep the conversation active - make the other person speak as much as possible.

Using this technique you can keep a conversation alive and kicking for a long time without putting any pressure on yourself to come up with new things to say. To keep the other person talking ask open-ended questions. Simple!


3. Make an effort to be a good listener:
Listen to the other person's response. Often you can learn a lot about the other person by listening to his/her words carefully. It would certainly help in improving your social interaction skills if you fight the urge to respond immediately and instead really listen to what the other person is trying to communicate.



4. Pay attention to small details:
Ask people about their kids, what school do they study in,ask them about their weekend plans or about their home or relatives. These small details inform you a lot about the other person's life and it shows genuine care and interest on your part for that person.

This can help in making him/her warm up to you. This technique will also provide you with enough things to talk about while conversing with that person.


If you are looking to improve your public speaking skills, click here - better public speaking skills

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