The ability to speak to anyone despite barriers will put you far ahead of most of your contemporaries. Communication skills have not hindered anyone yet, and have helped many to achieve success in life.
Effortlessly speaking to anyone and feeling your best in any society is an achievable goal that fits into any person's schedule and budget.
The main thing here is a little theory, a lot of practice and confidence.
Where to begin?
Changing the way of thinking
The main barrier to successful communication is your way of thinking. The development of communication skills will largely depend on how you give meaning to the reaction to your words.
For example, you are trying to talk to someone, and the interlocutor looks away, what meaning will you give it? You may think you did something wrong and conclude that talking to strangers is not okay. And then you are unlikely to strive to strike up conversations with strangers. But what if the other person was just shy? If you give his behavior that kind of meaning, the result will be very different.
Changing your mindset is what helps you overcome your fear and learn to talk to anyone.
Dealing with fear of criticism
A good way to overcome fear is to imagine the worst case scenario and then imagine how you are dealing with the situation. Thus, you mentally mark your fear, and this, in turn, will help you get rid of it, or at least reduce it.
For example, you may imagine that something is misunderstood and everyone is laughing at you. Now imagine how you say to these people in such a sarcastic tone: "I'm very glad that you liked it" or: "I'm glad I made you smile."
Imagine yourself as a comedian parrying the lines of the audience. By doing this, you demonstrate that the reaction doesn't really bother or scare you.
"Step into reality" of the interlocutor
One of the best ways to make a person feel more comfortable with you is to "step into their reality."
This means that you converge with him on his "territory" and in your opening statement you mention what he is doing at that moment. On a subconscious level, this makes the conversation more meaningful and sincere, since the person completely agrees with what you said and mutual understanding will immediately arise between you.
Seeing, for example, a person sitting and reading a book, you can start a conversation like this: “I noticed that you are reading this book, and …” Thus, you stepped into the reality of another person.
Play with your voice
Another well-known, but effective way to achieve mutual understanding with the interlocutor is to adjust to the pace of his speech. That is, if he speaks fast enough, you should try to speak at the same pace, unless, of course, this gives you too much inconvenience.
Matching the tempo of speech is necessary not only for mutual understanding. Different people perceive and process information at different rates. This is reflected in the speed of speech.
Therefore, if someone speaks relatively slowly or the pace of his speech is noticeably slower than yours, this may mean that he needs to think carefully about everything.
Why is all this necessary?
By learning how to talk with strangers, to strike up a conversation with them, you will enrich your life, you will feel more confident and calmer in communicating with friends and business partners, you will begin to get more pleasure from communication and learn a lot about the world around you and about other people.
Everyday routine can turn into a real adventure thanks to communication with an interesting person, even if this adventure lasts only a minute or two.
Remember: in a conversation, everything does not always go like clockwork, but it never happens that everything is bad. If things don't go as well as you want, you can tell someone a great story about your failed conversation. Be that as it may, the ability to speak with anyone, despite any barriers, will allow you to get far ahead of most of your contemporaries.
Communication is a real minefield with many obstacles. But in order to leave it as a winner, you need to get out of your shell and start communicating with people. You can talk to anyone, it's simple. Let's start?
