“I don’t have any interest in taking care of people; my interest is in teaching people how to take care of themselves.” – Larry Winget

So there I was eight months into business following what the “guru’s” said to do. I followed their advice, did what I thought I was supposed to do and I still lacked the results I wanted to receive.

When I first started internet marketing, I thought that I should only focus on making money. At the time I didn’t understand the concept of giving people value.

• Value from my own journey and experience online.
• Value from the mistakes I’ve made.
• And value from life lessons I’ve learned.

Then one day when I was in a negative mood, I stumbled upon this quote: “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

It’s a great quote.  You’ve probably heard it, you’ve probably haven’t.

And it got me thinking: “Am I doing what I love?”

To me, the answer was obvious. I wasn’t.

I didn’t love focusing only on trying to make money online. What I loved to do was empower others and to share myself with the world.

So to me this quote was true and not true at the same time, it was a paradox.

For example, if what you really love is watching reruns of Walking Dead and that is all you do, it’s going to be hard for you to get ahead financially. Especially online.

So for that reason I believe this quote should be changed from “do what you love and the money will follow” to…

“Blog what you love and the money will follow.”

And I’m 100% convinced that anyone can make a living creating a career around the topic that moves them most. I believe this because I am living proof and there are hundreds of examples of people who have done just that!

There is more than enough information about what we “should” do but little about how to do what needs to be done.

So in this blog post, I want to share with you a five step formula for following your heart, finding your life’s calling and living life to the fullest when you do!

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 Step 1 – Create A Blog About Your Passion.

You might be wondering why you might need to create a blog around what you’re passionate about, and I have the answer.

Because you need a home base.

• You need a place to point to when someone says “what do you do?”
• You need a place to connect with others who are passionate about your topic.
• You need a place to create a sense of community.

And there is nothing unethical about serving readers and visitors on your site and asking them to buy something from you when you truly believe in what you promote. They will want to buy your products because they know you, trust you and enjoy the value you give to them.

By following your passion you follow your heart, and that creates good business! It’s good for your soul, it’s good for other people and it’s good for your bank account.

It’s just good in every aspect!

Step 2 – Share The Best Content You Can.

Most people would say something like “but I can’t write!” Well let me tell you something.

Being able to “write well” is not necessary.

Answer these questions:

• Can you talk?
• Can you share stories of something that happened to you or to those you know?
• Can you share with a friend why you loved a movie?
• Can you teach someone to do something, like tying a shoe?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you have the seeds of being a great producer of content.

You just need to practice the skills.

It’ll be easy to do if you make it as natural and original as you can.

• Write like you speak. Talk like you’re talking to your best friend.
• If you don’t want to write, make videos.
• Tell stories every time you can. People love stories.
• Share your heart, experience and wisdom.
• JUST BE YOU.

I believe with all my heart that everyone reading this has value to add to the lives of others!

It’s guaranteed that you will get better at creating content once you start, but if you don’t start following your heart and taking the necessary actions, when will you?

Step 3 – Curate The Best Work Of Others In Your Area Of Passion.

Today anyone can start a blog, curate and create helpful content, and start making money from nothing more than that.

There has never been a time in history where it’s been easier to make money online other than TODAY.

Curation is a simple concept: just like the curator of a museum, you find and display the best content possible in your field of interest. Curation is the process of gathering the best content available and displaying it on your blog.

It’s powerful, easy to do (when you know how) and it works. It works regardless of who you are, where you are or what subject your passion is based around!

I’m going to make up a hypothetical situation to prove this. Let’s say your blog is about how to scrape up doodoo easier. And let’s say you have been scraping up doodoo for 10 years now.

With a blog you can share all the tips and tricks you know about picking up doodoo easier, and that’s a good thing!

But with curation, you can add your knowledge with the best thinking from other organic doodoo gardeners across the world!

Best of all, because your love is picking up dog crap, doing this work will not seem like work. It will seem like play.

But it will pay like work!

Step 4 – Seek To Serve Your Readers

Creating a blog is not about you. Some people think their blog should be a monument to their achievements or a culmination of their life’s wisdom.

Not really. Your blog needs to be about your reader.

Of course you will profit by building a mailing list, selling your products and more. In that way the blog is FOR you. But the blog itself is not ABOUT you.

Your blog is about your reader.

This article is not about me, it’s about you.

• It’s about helping you move from a feeling of doubt to hope.
• It’s about helping you find a clear path forward that will work.
• It’s about helping you take the next step in your journey, no matter where you are right now!

Step 5 – Give And It Will Be Given To You

There is a law around this. It’s called The Law of Receiving.

You must give first to another before you can receive anything. That’s why I strive to give my readers the very best I can.

I share openly about personal growth and speak about how you can succeed by making the most of yourself and reaching your full potential.

I want you to become rich because I believe that you can. But only IF you start to do things in a certain way.

I share wisdom that I know will help you do things in this certain way to help you succeed and create a better life for yourself and others as well.

I do this because I understand the foundational principle that governs the entire world. If I give it will be given back to me.

I believe that God gives back to me for my good deeds, including sharing myself openly.

You might believe something different and that’s okay. Everyone is different and has their own beliefs; it’s what makes everyone unique.  This is just what I believe.

At the end of the day, work takes up a huge amount of our available time. We spend the majority of our time and life at our job, and we don’t always enjoy working.

Why not make work fun by tapping into what really moves you? And you can tap into what really moves you by following your heart!

When you follow your heart, your blog will become successful. When you follow your heart, your passion will become your living. When you follow your heart, you will be able to serve others in the best way you can!

Then you will have fun almost all the time, you will help others grow and you will ultimately help yourself as well. And success will be guaranteed!

Do you have any goals and aspirations?If so, I’d like to hear them in the comments below!

Donovan Barrett Jr is a self empowerment and internet marketing expert and he helps business opportunity seekers start successful online businesses. Click here to download his FREE e-Book: The Empowered Entrepreneur Guide to avoid making these crucial 10 mistakes most people make when starting a business online!

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If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably tried a host of self-improvement strategies. Meditating, exercising, journaling… but what about traveling?

Did you know traveling can lead to great things?

Personally, it’s been the most influential factor in my life. I’ve been traveling around the world since 2008, and without a doubt, my experiences have made me a better person. (And not only that — they’ve also been incredibly fun and rewarding.)

Though you probably don’t need an excuse to travel, I’ll give you a few anyway. Here are four ways traveling the world makes you a better person:

1. Travel teaches patience

“Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.” ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

Waiting in line for a museum or flight. Enduring a long bus ride. Dealing with persistent touts. What do these experiences have in common? They’re all familiar to frequent travelers — and they all require patience to manage. When you travel, you quickly learn you can either allow these issues to frustrate you, or you can take them in stride; the end result is the same. So, you learn to be patient.

Now that I’ve spent five hours waiting at the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, sitting in traffic for a few minutes doesn’t faze me. Because I’ve had to brush off an endless stream of inappropriate remarks from Turkish salesmen, the occasional catcall doesn’t upset me. Travel has strengthened my patience muscle like nothing else has.

2. Travel makes you grateful

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough.” ~ Melody Beattie

Nothing makes you appreciate where you’re from — or what you have — like traveling does. It could be as simple as missing your favorite brand of peanut butter, or as profound as realizing you grew up in incredible comfort compared to many people. Gratitude is a powerful emotion, and practicing it can have a deeply positive impact on your life.

A few years ago, I spent three months volunteering at an elementary school in Nicaragua. The children there had very little in terms of physical possessions, but an abundance of smiles and positivity. Seeing how they could be satisfied with so little made me more appreciative of what I have in my life — which, in turn, has brightened the lives of those around me.

3. Travel leads to self-reflection

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

We are at our best when living up to our full potential, and travel often reveals just what that potential looks like. You can be whoever you want to be when you’re traveling — which is often what helps you figure out who you really are. Maybe you realize your partner isn’t the right person for you; maybe you realize your true calling is to become a yoga teacher.

When I look back on it, many of my life-changing moments have occurred on the road. It was while volunteering in East Africa in 2005 that I realized I wanted travel to be the focal point of my life; it was while teaching English in South Korea (and writing a blog about my experience) that I realized I was a writer; it was while taking a long solo road trip down the east coast that I realized I needed to end a long-term relationship. Living a life true to myself has undoubtedly made me a better person.

4. Travel opens your mind

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” ~ Mark Twain

Making assumptions is easy; understanding and appreciating our differences is hard. One of the best ways to learn about other people and places is by visiting, connecting, and experiencing them yourself. Immersing yourself in a new culture will allow you to not only discover the qualities you share, but also to appreciate the areas in which you differ.

I grew up in a homogenous small town of 2,500 people. If I never traveled, I don’t know what kind of thoughts would be traipsing through my head. A lot of assumptions would be made — I do know that. I never would’ve made friends across borders, I never would’ve learned about different cultures, and most importantly, I never would’ve realized how great and good and beautiful our world is.

What do patience, gratitude, self-awareness, and an open mind have in common?  

They are all qualities of a great person — and they are all qualities you can nurture by traveling the world.

Though of course traveling — or even volunteering abroad — will likely have the greatest impact, a trip to a new neighborhood or city will do. As long as you’re getting out of your comfort zone and exposing yourself to new ideas, people, and places, you will experience growth.

And it’s only by growing that we become better.

Has traveling made you a better person? Tell us how!

Susan Shain works with Discover Corps, the only volunteer vacation organization endorsed by the National Peace Corps Association. She believes the best way to discover a country is through its people. Click here to learn more about Discover Corps’ all-inclusive volunteer vacations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

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Podcasts

Podcast are an emerging form of media that allows you to hear conversations between some of the most interesting and influential people in the world on any given subject.  Podcast have been the most profound resources I have ever found for uncovering new interests and passions of mine. They allow you to explore new ideas, perspectives, and philosophies completely for free and at your own pace. I can honestly say that podcast have been the main catalyst for me discovering what I am truly passionate about. If you are someone who is struggling to find your passion than podcast would be the first place I would start.

Books           

Books and more specifically non-fiction books are resources you can use to really refine what you are interested in. If you ever hope to make a living doing what you love then you better have a deep understanding of that thing and non- fiction books will give you the knowledge that is necessary to truly becoming an expert in the thing that you are passionate about.

Experiment

Experimenting with thing that interest you is the most effective way to finding your passion. The key is to completely immerse yourself in whatever whim you get. When I was 18 I thought I wanted to be in real estate so went to a free local real estate course, and then I enrolled in school for marketing, After that I thought I wanted to be a music producer and DJ so I downloaded all the programs, bought text books about music production, went to workshops and practiced almost every day. Once I realized that music wasn’t for me I then became fascinated with nutrition and fitness. Now I have a blog where I help people with their health which is what I am truly passionate about. Even though I “failed” at my attempts to find my passionate at first, what I did discover is what I was not passionate about which is just as important and is all a vital part of the process.

Meditation

As my favorite spiritual teacher Ram Dass says, “the quieter you become, the more you can hear.” A lot of my best insights on what it is that I should do with my life have come to me while I was meditating. The more you can quite the constant chatter of your mind, the more you can hear your intuition. When you meditate you are able to hear your inner voice far more clearly which will lead you down the right path. When we listen to our ego instead of our intuition we often make decisions out of fear instead of what we actually desire. Developing a mediation practice, even five minutes day, will help you develop your intuition and will give you better insights into what you are passionate about.

Surround Yourself with Passionate People

Passion, just like a positive attitude, is contagious. When you surround yourself with people are a passionate about what they are doing it can often be the force multiplier that can lead you to your ah-ha moment.

Trust Your Intuition

If it feels right, even though you can’t see where your situation is leading you, just trust that there are lessons that need to be learned and that this is exactly where you need to be right now. Many times I have questioned the seemingly random jobs and projects that I find myself doing however, hindsight is 20/20. When I look back at these random events I can see that they have all lead me to be where I am today. As long as you are enjoying yourself or you feel challenged, even though you have no idea where your situation is taking you, just have faith that it is leading you exactly to where you want to be.

 

Ask Yourself “If money didn’t exist, what would I do?”

This is a very powerful thought experiment that for a lot of people is a very difficult question to answer. Too many of us are focused on money and we tend to sacrifice what we really desire for bigger pay cheques. What nobody tells you though is that the novelty of money and material possessions wears off very fast and often leaves you feeling empty. Finding the answer to this question is a great place to start on your journey to finding your passion.

Follow Your Interests with No Attachment to the Outcome

I feel like a lot of people don’t follow their interests because they are afraid of what other people might think or they are afraid they might fail. However, if you can follow your interests without attachment of the outcome, succeed or fail it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you’re enjoying yourself and you feel happy. When you are searching for that thing that you feel like was meant for you, there is no failing; there is only winning and learning.

Change Your Environment

A change in environment can often give you a new perspective. Traveling to a new country, going to a local music festival, or getting a new job can help get you out of your comfort zone and give you profound insights into what you might want to do with your life.

Take Action

Your purpose isn’t going to fall in your lap as you’re watching TV. To find your passion you should do at least do one of these suggestions every single day which as a recap include:

• Listen a podcast
• Read one chapter of a book
• Experiment by starting a new project
• Meditate for at least five minutes
• Find someone who loves what they do and ask them to hangout
• Take action on your intuition
• Write down an answer to the question “if money didn’t exist, what I would do?”
• Change your environment

Conclusion

When it comes to finding your passion I believe it is simply a numbers game. It takes patience and persistence and I know it might seem like a lot of work but realistically you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. These are the most effective tips I have discovered and if they’ve worked for me I believe they can work for you too. Feel free to share ways that have helped you discover your passion in the comments below.

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My name is Nathan Wiebe and I am the founder and writer of the Eat.Exercise.Live.Differently blog []. I am somewhat of a health and lifestyle scientist who loves experimenting with different ways of living. My mission in life is to introduce people to various ways and means of escaping a mediocre life. Sometimes you have to be your own hero so I do my best to provide the tools and resources that will lead towards a complete lifestyle upgrade.

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The benefits that come from exercise seem endless. It helps boost mood, fights off diseases, gives you energy and makes you look good to name just a few.

With all the benefits that come from maintaining health, an important question needs to be asked: why does physical fitness seem so hard?

Finding the motivation and willpower to get in shape is difficult. For many of us, the lure of the couch is far too great to get up and head to the gym.

I’ll admit that before I got into shape, I would watch extremely fit joggers run by and wonder what they had that I didn’t. What were they doing so well that I wasn’t? Over the years, I’ve made it my goal to figure that out.

It took a lot of analysis and several years of trial and error in my workouts before finally finding some answers. But I’ve identified seven things that fit, healthy people do differently.

1. They schedule specific times to workout and stick to them

Working out “whenever there’s time” is too arbitrary to be effective and can open you up to a long list of excuses for not going. It’s important to set regular dates and times to work out so you can bypass the “lack of time” excuse.

By setting fixed times, you’re holding your actions accountable. It’s not something you do here and there, but a specific time that you need to schedule around. Most importantly, by setting a specific schedule, it becomes a part of your weekly routine – eventually it becomes something you do out of habit. And once that happens, you’re more likely to do it in the future.

2. They enjoy being active

For a lot of people, exercise is a chore – it’s something you feel like you have to do. But by looking at it this way, you turn it into something you never feel bad about abandoning. After all, chores aren’t exactly things people look forward to.

Fit people find joy in exercise and fitness. Whether it’s in the spirit of competition or the elation from breaking a new personal goal, fit people enjoy physical activity.

The external benefits that come from physical fitness might be the initial reason to start, but finding the joy in the activity itself is what will keep you coming back.

3. They understand that fit, healthy bodies can take time

Results don’t happen overnight. Getting fit requires determination and consistency that you don’t see in many other activities.

But it’s not just about seeing the reward far off into the distance and working your way to it. It’s also about finding the discipline to put in the effort to make it happen.

Fit people appreciate the discipline it takes to work out week after week. Finding the determination to keep moving forward becomes a matter of pride and a badge of honor – it feels good to know that you’ve put in steady effort towards a goal.

4. They focus on improvement, not perfection

There is no perfect body. There is no perfect workout or diet. In fact, eliminate all expectations about what physical fitness is supposed to be. Fixing your mind on perfect results will result in failure because you’re either demanding too much or setting unrealistic expectations.

Get into a mindset that focuses on improvement, not perfection. Rather than finding the perfect diet, aim to make improvements in your eating habits. Instead of looking for the perfect physique, look for what workouts you could be doing better.

Working out is more of a mental game than most people realize so it’s important to get into the proper frame to ensure that you keep going.

5. They make healthy eating a part of their life

It’s easy to get caught up in the new fad diet which makes lasting promises of change if only you follow the simple rules involved.

But the problem with most diets is that they’re often so restrictive that people struggle to maintain them over long periods of time. That’s why most people don’t stick with them.

A better approach to eating healthy is to look at it as a series of choices. You want to make slight improvements here and there by slowly cutting out unhealthy foods and introducing healthier options.

By slowing making better and better choices, you’ll eventually find that eating healthy becomes a part of your life; that also makes it much less likely for you to bounce back into eating unhealthy again.

6. They take sleep very seriously

Working out is rather pointless if you don’t get enough proper sleep. Sleep is when your body finds time to rebuild muscle and store new energy. Lack of sleep can be incredibly unhealthy – it can wreak havoc on your metabolism, mood and ability to handle stress.

Fit, healthy people do what they can to make sure they get the sleep they need. They make sure their bedrooms have the optimal conditions. They also make sure they don’t consume anything that will interrupt their sleep.

7. They realize physical fitness is a mental game

Fitness is often seen as a physical activity – sweating, muscle building, toning. At first, it seems to rely more on the physical than the mental.

But mental attitude towards fitness shouldn’t be discounted. It’s not just about brute force or sweat; there’s a mind-body connection as well.

It can take willpower and discipline to eat healthy. Sticking to a workout routine week after week takes grit and determination. All of these qualities originate in the mind. If you can focus your mind on these mental attributes, exercise and fitness become a lot easier.

Steve is the writer behind Do Something Cool where he blogs about travel, motivation, self improvement and adventure. He’s always looking for ways to make life more interesting. For fresh ideas on living life to the fullest, join his newsletter.

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Many times when we want to create something new in our life we go at it with this initial excitement. Yet, if we could probe our mind and thoughts we might discover that we keep replaying the same negative and discouraged frequency again and again.

Often times it’s a frequency of lack. This can take the shape of a frequency of ‘I’m not enough’. Or it might be the frequency of ‘I can’t’ or ‘it’ll just never to happen to me’. And I understand exactly what it’s like to want a change – yet something keeps holding you back. In this article, I want to give you some suggestions that have helped me transform my reality very quickly. I’ve been able to get nearly anything I truly want starting out with these simple steps.

Here’s an example, after my first marriage ended I was fortunate to find love again. I remember being so excited right before I was going to ask my current wife to marry me. We were in San Antonio, Texas in an area called the ‘River Walk’, and there I was, I had the ring in hand and I was walking back to the hotel room and I was planning out exactly how I was going to propose.

I found this little island called ‘Marriage Island’ on the San Antonio River Walk, this place that dates back to the 1600s – a tiny patch of land with beautiful energy and significance. Yet despite all the beauty around me in my mind I could still hear this record playing again and again – “Oh, you know what happened the last time…what’s going to happen if you mess up again? What would family and friends say? What would happen if she’s not the one that you think?”

All my fears started coming up. All the worry. All the anxiety. In that moment I could have changed my mind, chose to listen and let that frequency build the rest of my life from that place. Here’s what I am saying, I realized I had to play a different frequency. It wasn’t enough for me just to ignore it and keep going on. Because physically even if I ‘worked hard’, ‘pushed’ or ‘went through the motions’ it couldn’t last.

Here’s a KEY TRUTH: First cause is always what is being held in the mind.

We’ve got to turn off that ‘broken’ record if we’re going to see a different world. So many spiritual people are holding out for better circumstances. I see people everyday who think that God, spirit and creative source can make miracles happen WITHOUT our participation. Instead remember all of this reality works THROUGH YOU rather than to you.

Ask yourself this question: Is the Universe unlimited? Most people would say “Yes, Darius I think it is”. Then tell me what frequency does that unlimited Universe resonate at? Does the Universe play a frequency of ‘I’m not enough; I can’t; I’ll never happen to me’?

Here’s the key: I wasn’t nervous, I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t worried. My heart knew it was the right thing. Yet it was the record of my mind that had the problem. I had somehow developed a pattern in this one area of my life where I replayed this frequency. Even though my heart was telling me it was so, my mind had developed this pattern.

So I want to share a few things really quickly that will help you to shift this frequency.

First, the frequency and the messages you’re playing in your mind are actually creating your feelings, they create your moment to moment emotion. If you plug into a great frequency of ‘I can do it’ or ‘I am loved’ or ‘it’s possible’ or ‘look at how beautiful the world is’, your feelings change. When feelings change emotions change. So to change the frequency you can say, “Cancel”. On a vibrational scale the world ‘cancel’ goes deep and neutralizes the effect of a frequency that does not serve you. I’ve see this again and again.

The second thing to remember is that emotions transform how you act. They transform how you see, how you connect, the ideas you have, the visions, the excitement you bring into the world and the way people see you. They change the energy field around you. You want to transform fast, change the frequency or feelings. To do this transform the thought. The actions you take will either transform your world into a new one or will sustain the old world you’ve been trapped in. So after you say ‘cancel’ and feel yourself getting back into center – check back in with your heart. Ask yourself, “From the highest part of me is this still what I truly and deeply want?”. Lastly, plant in my mind pictures, images, scenes, feelings of the outcome you want. Do this until you feel your entire state change. This ‘state’ change is a frequency change. It’s critical to be able to become aware of when this happens in your system. You’ll know it.

The third is to remember that God Source gave us free will. In my own life I’ve seen source work most often through me. I said ‘through’ me not ‘to’ or ‘at’ me. This is because of free will. Source does not take away problems. This free will creates miracles, changes to situations, people and even inanimate objects based on the frequency we hold. Often times the ‘miracle’ we are expecting begins to open up at the moment we change our ‘thought frequency’ consistently. I’ve heard this again and again through so many people. Remember, reality happens THROUGH us more often than TO us. Dwell on that one for a while.

Let’s hold out the intention to turn over a new leaf today. See yourself today – this is my wish – as the Universe sees you, as unlimited and as expansive and as beautiful as Source. If you do this repeatedly, my friends, I promise you your world will change.

Intention Exercise: Put your hand back on your heart if it’s been moved and let’s just take a deep breath in, holding in the intention of pure possibility, breathing in the intention of ‘I am good’, breathing in the intentionality and vibration of ‘I am able’. Breathe in the intention that today is a new day, breathe in the intention of ‘I feel good’, and breathe in the intention that ‘I am love’.

Let your heart begin to expand out all around you. You may begin to see a bright pink light around your field, a bright pink energy source just connecting you. You may feel a peace inside. Just allow that to come in. And allow right now a part of you that needs healing today

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Darius is the founder of the transformational http://ift.tt/1f9U0cY enlightened education and broadcasting community dedicated to helping people connect to their power, genius and gifts.  With over 170,000 loyal subscribers in more than 250 countries the You Wealth broadcasting platform has become one of the largest and highest grossing ‘enlightened’ tele-education communities in the world.

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Have you ever wondered how some people can confidently stroll into any room, approach the first person they see, and quickly jump into deep conversations?

They’re able to laugh, engage, and have fun.  They ooze confidence and charisma. Other people are dying to meet them and hanging on their every word.

As an introvert, I’ve always been deeply fascinated by those individuals—the ones who can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere—because that’s something I struggled with for most of my life.

In fact, for many years, most conversations I tried to start would go something like this:

Me: “Hi! How are you?”

Them: “Good. You?”

Me: “Good!…[awkward silence]…Well, it was nice seeing you…”

Then, the conversation would fizzle out, and I’d scurry away tail-between-my-legs discouraged.

But rather than just giving up and saying I’m not a “people person,” I decided to study some of the best conversationalists around.

And no, I didn’t seek advice from smooth-talking salespeople, charming old chaps, or even polished politicians.

Instead, I turned to a rather unusual and unlikely source for conversational inspiration: kids!

Now you may be thinking, “Wait a minute! Why would an adult look to children for conversational advice?”

Here’s why: think about the way you were as a child, especially the way you approached meeting new people.

It’s likely that you would talk to anyone about anything. You’d willingly walk up and introduce yourself, and you certainly NEVER worried about saying the wrong things.

In fact, as kids, we have to be told “not to talk to strangers” because otherwise we’d inch toward everyone in sight.

So what changed?

For starters as kids, we had no reason not to be confident. We were unaware of awkwardness so we weren’t afraid to screw up.

We allowed ourselves to play and have fun.
But more important than any those things is that as kids we had a burning curiosity, and we willingly expressed it.

We wanted to understand the world around us. That made us hungry to know more.

That made us ask great questions.

And that truly is the secret to an amazing social life and having great conversations: become insanely curious about people.

Because when we’re genuinely curious about other people’s lives, we engage with them, we pay attention to details, and we make them feel important.

It’s seems so simple, but most people don’t do this. The go-to for most of us is to jump into generic questions like:

“What do you do?”

“Where are you from?”

“The weather has been crazy, huh?”

And these generic questions get generic responses. They don’t show a deeper level of interests.

Instead, it’s just a formality we perform out of routine.

On the other hand, great questions cut through. They get to the heart of the matter.

If you’re around a child for even a few minutes, you’ll see the power of genuine curiosity. They ask so many questions you can’t help but to engage with them!

Here are three of the most powerful questions kids consistently ask that quickly tap into people’s deepest desires, inner-most thoughts, and show a genuine interest in the other person.

Don’t be a afraid to tap into your child-like state of mind and make your conversations fun and interesting!

Now, it’s okay to talk to strangers so use these questions to help supercharge your social life and make conversations oh-so-much easier.
1. What’s the meaning behind that?

Kids ask this all the time. They see something unique about someone (maybe their shirt or a hat), and they ask about it. As adults we rarely give this a shot. We mostly just keep to ourselves.

The reality is asking this question not only shows the other person that you’re paying attention to details about them but it also gives them a rare opportunity to share a story with you.

Maybe they bought that strange hat when they were traveling through a foreign country? Or maybe they got that tattoo when they were in the military a few years back? Or just maybe that t-shirt they’re wearing (with the odd logo) is their favorite band and they got it at a concert a week back?

You never what stories people have, until you ask.

And this is one of the easiest ways to get stories out of people. Ask them to tell you the story behind anything that interests you and watch the interesting conversations unfold.

2. Why?

Kids are great at asking this question. Many times they’ll ask why, dozens of times in row, giving the person unlimited chances to speak.

Now, you won’t want to go that far…but using this tip in your conversations is a great way to kickstart a deeper, more meaningful discussions.

All of us have a reason why we do things, but few people ever ask us why we do what we do.

Most people are so caught up in their own day-to-day lives that they never consider asking this question. But asking “why” is one of easiest ways to open people up and engage with them.

Try a few of these questions:

• “Why did you choose to become an ____?”
• “Why are you interested in that?”
• “Why do you like that restaurant over this one?”

Asking why lets the other person speak. It lets them share their unique opinion. And it validates their decisions and thoughts.

Why don’t you give it a shot? 🙂

3. Can you tell me more?

Every one of us has something that we’re passionate about, but the people we see everyday (our spouses, friends and colleagues) don’t always want to hear about it, again and again.

Surprisingly in this super-connected world we live in today, most of us don’t have anyone to talk to about the things we really care about. And most of the time, we’d desperately like to share our thoughts and passions with the world.

So when you ask someone to tell you more, you’re giving them the greatest gift of all: attention and time. These things can’t be bought. Most conversations are quick to end, but this digs deeper and let’s real meaningful ideas unfold.

Now, that you’re an adult it’s okay to talk to strangers. So go out, tap into your inner child, and use these questions to meet new people.

Conversations are supposed to be fun. Kids naturally know a thing or two about having a blast. Apply their curiosity to your adult conversations and everyone you meet is in for a treat!

You’re not going to let these kids be better conversationalists than you…are you?

Robert Allen is a communications and influence coach who runs the blog KickstartYourDreamLife.com. He helps introverted young professionals be more charismatic so they can get the recognition they deserve for their hard work (from their bosses and colleagues) without being loud or extroverted by showing them how to skillfully talk to anyone with ABSOLUTE confidence and without fear of ever running out of things to say.

The post How to Supercharge your Social Life by Tweaking One Tiny Aspect of your Personality appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.

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