Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Art of Listening- A Tuesday Tip

In the book "How to win Friends and Influence People" Dale Carnegie talks about the art of listening and how important the skill is in social, business, family and other various situations. Listening is just as important a skill to develop as talking- most people are delighted to be able to chat about themselves or their recent exploits. Ask others about jobs, vacations, weekend plans, and favorite places to shop (the skill to master here is being able to ask these questions without being interrogative). Remember that the essence of great conversation is to be inclusive, so ask questions that anyone would feel happy answering. If you do run out of things to say, inject a little new life into your conversation by widening the group of people you are talking to.

Great Small-talk Subjects:

- Favorite places to vacation

- Human-interest stories from the newspapers

- Sports

- The latest must-see TV

- Weird and wonderful diet tips

- Classic bands

- The weekend weather

- Local neighborhoods and new shops that have opened

- The Twilight Series (haha)

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