#85 The Social Skills Guidebook – Chris MacLeod

You think your social life could be better. You’ve felt shy as long as you can remember. Your conversations have more awkward moments than you’d like. Maybe you don’t need a ton of friends, but you’d like to have some people to hang out with on occasion.

You want to make changes, but you don’t know where to start. Lots of people have been in your shoes, so you’re hardly a lost cause, and it’s never too late to turn things around. The Social Skills Guidebook gives you insights into your interpersonal struggles and behaviors, and offers hands-on advice for developing and improving your people skills.

The Social Skills Guidebook goes into detail about solving the three core areas that hold people back socially:

1) Mental barriers including shyness, social anxiety, and low self-confidence
2) Less developed conversation skills
3) A lack of friends and an unsatisfying social life

If you look at the people who are socially comfortable in your school or workplace and want what they have, know that you can achieve social success like theirs without losing yourself in the process.

You can remain true to your personality and pursue your favorite interests while conquering the attitudes that hold you back, improving your conversation skills, and learning how to make friends. With practice, time, and patience, you can create the kind of social life you want for yourself.

The Social Skills Guidebook covers topics including:

• Changing counterproductive thinking that stands in the way of your social confidence
• Becoming comfortable with your social fears by facing them in a gradual, manageable way
• Improving your self-esteem
• Navigating the different parts of a conversation
• Getting past awkward silences
• Interacting in one-on-one and group conversations
• Learning how to listen to others and respond appropriately
• Identifying other people’s nonverbal cues and being aware of your own
• Finding potential friends and making plans with them
• Deepening your friendships
• Keeping your progress going
• Improving your social skills if you have Asperger’s syndrome

The Social Skills Guidebook is written by Chris MacLeod, the author of the extensive, well-visited, free site on interpersonal skills Succeed Socially. This book contains all of the site’s key advice in a tight, organized, polished package.