Becoming more social, one step at a time.

As I  mention in my "About Me" section I've always been a fairly unsocial person, playing video games after High School instead of hanging out with people and doing new things to make my life seem more exciting to other people. I would have a small click of friends at a time and not hang out with other people but I did go BMXing with friends in senior more and more often becoming a bit more sociable.

My biggest problems were confidence in social situations and not being able to read people. I've even had dates that went terrible because I couldn't look the other person in the eye and I'd ask questions instead of taking control of the situation. The part that is really weird is I keep getting myself into sales jobs which I always found strange since the biggest factors of selling are confidence and being able to read people. My lack of these two traits ultimately led me to getting fired for the first time from a car dealership about a month before my "trial" period was over. So after that happened I decided my social skills had to change and here were my big objectives to work on.

1. Become more confident in everything I do regardless of if I know what the heck I'm doing or not.

2. Learn how to converse with people better so I actually have something to say during extended conversations.

3. Learn how to read people, read the conversation to understand the person better and learn body language so I can keep their interest an hour into a conversation.

I've been working on these parts of social interaction a lot watching Youtube videos, reading articles, and lots and lots of social interactions in and out of work. After doing cold approaches on the opposite sex and trying to start and hold extended conversations over and over it's changed my over all confidence level tremendously.

I've been doing several things to help me in the social experiment to help myself and if you have similar traits as me you can work on them as well the same way.

1. As you pass people look them directly in the eye until they look away (you'll be surprised how quickly most people look away) If someone confronts you about it just say they reminded you of someone you used to know.

2. Cold approach people as much as possible start out with something simple like what time is it and when you see any girl you think is remotely attractive go up to her and tell her she's (cute/hot/attractive) but make it clear right up front you're attracted to her.

3. Don't fear rejection from anyone what's the worst that can happen? They'll say no and both of you walk away to live your lives as separate people and possibly never meet again. Make it into a game! If you're having fun with the conversation they will as well.

There's tons of tricks but start with those learning stuff like this can only improve the quality of your life in the long run. As always questions or comments are welcome tell me your tricks and next time I make a post about social experiments I may bring up your idea.

Fitness & Health the beginning

One of my jobs currently is a Quality of Life Enhancement Specialist at Bose (aka Sales just don't tell anyone the first title sounds better). The company has created a challenge for their employees that the person who has the most points gets a small prize. Ever since I started this challenge I've been eating more, exercising more and using a few apps on my iPhone. One is a Nike app called Nike+ Running Essentially it Uses GPS to follow your running and tracks it along with time, distance and compares it with other runs you've done. The next one is Myfitnesspal this one is really cool it asks you a couple of preliminary questions like what you weigh, what kind of job you have and what your fitness goals are. After plugging in my info it told me I need to eat 3,000 calories a day (to gain five pounds in the next few weeks). Totally killer on me since I'm not used to eating that much but I've felt more energy along with a few other good effects of eating healthier food and exercising.

Anyway I thought the contest was a cool way to kick start your way to better health so I'll put up the way to count points per day to kick start your goals. (I've changed some things I thought should be added.

Participate in an activity for more than 20 mins (running, walking, gardening, surfing etc.): 2 Points
Have a friend or family member participate with you (add points per person): 1 Point
Sign up for a run or exercise class (martial arts, yoga, 5k) : 3 Points
Log your activity in MyFitnessPal for three consecutive days.: 2 Points
Any choice you actively make a Healthier decision (stairs instead of elevator, water instead of coffee, fruit instead of fries) 1 Point

Nutrition

Pack a Healthy meal for work.: 2 Points
Drink the recommended amount of water for yourself (use this Hydration Calculator) 1 Point


I've been doing this since about two weeks ago and I have 40 points so far try it and see what you get it can only help.



I've also purchased one of those Abmats and a Yoga mat I'll show you those when I receive them.