15 Most Awkward Social Mistakes - Improve Your Confidence & Charisma in Conversation

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Gentleman's Gazette
#lifestyle #conversationskills #socialmistakes

GUIDES YOU SHOULDN'T MISS:

1. Assuming an incorrect level of interest in the topic of conversation you've brought up on the part of other people. There are two sides to this point and both of them can be equally embarrassing; the first is assuming that people are interested in what you're talking about when in fact, they aren't.

2. Not making the conversation accessible to everyone who's there. The easiest way for you to make a conversation accessible is to bring up topics that are fairly wide in scope that anyone could latch on to or you could bring up a larger number of topics.

3. Not asking enough questions in conversation. Questions serve a very valuable role as they allow your conversational partners to bring up experiences that are personally valid to them and also give them time to reflect.

4. Not making enough eye contact. Now, upfront, we'll just say that this is something that takes deliberate practice and even some socially confident people can struggle with it. A simple guideline for casual conversation is to try to make more eye contact with the person when they're speaking to you.

5. Not valuing your own personal hygiene enough.

6. Trying to repeatedly force humor into a conversation. Now don't get us wrong, a little bit of humor when talking to others can be a great way to make things less serious and to put everyone in a good mood but repeatedly trying to make your own sense of humor dominate the conversation and constantly making jokes that aren't well received by your conversational partners is indeed a mistake.

7. You shouldn't constantly be self-deprecating either. In contrast to jokes that make fun of others, making a joke every now and again that pokes fun at yourself can be a way to make you look more humble but if you're constantly talking about how terrible you are at everything, people are eventually just going to start feeling awkward around you.

8. Attempting to dominate the flow and direction of conversation at all times. This point does tie into our first mistake about saying too much or too little but here, we're talking more about a situation in which you might find something great to say that ties into conversation but before you can get it out there, the conversation moves in a different direction.

9. Being a poor listener in conversation. As you're probably aware, listening is a crucial skill in any conversation, however, some people may not really understand the difference between simply hearing and actively listening.

10. Not ending a conversation. Even if you found that a conversation you're having has gone very well, there is a natural time for all conversations to come to an end. After all, it's impolite to keep people waiting if they've got somewhere else to be. In other words, it's important not to take people hostage conversationally.

Mistake number 11 is using poor body language. It's also equally important to remember that you're sending signals by using your own body language.

Mistake number 12 today is giving closed answers or asking closed questions. What's a closed answer? Well, essentially, if someone asks you a yes-or-no question and you respond only with the single word, yes or no, and leave it at that, that's a dead weight on conversation.

Mistake number thirteen is making assumptions about other people. We can use one of the most classic and egregious examples here, asking a woman when her baby is due only to find out that she's not actually pregnant at all.

Mistake number fourteen is framing your conversations around negativity. What we mean by this is the way in which you frame your words is going to have a direct impact on how other people perceive you.

Finally, mistake number 15 is having poor party etiquette. Firstly, don't automatically assume that a plus-one is welcome, let alone more people than that. Next, be sure that you're dressing appropriately to the level of the occasion. Finally here, do be aware that you should have good table manners as well.

[aintnomeaning]

A friend of mine had social anxiety as a young person in his late teens. He decided that he would go to the mall, and walk up to people and tell them that he had social anxiety, and was trying to improve by talking to strangers. Almost everyone was happy to start talking with him, after doing this for a few times he inability to approach people in talk with them was much improved. When I met him in has late 30's, you NEVER would have guessed he had this problem. He was married, and had had a lot of girlfriends in the past, and was good at talking in front of other people.


It's a skill you can practice!

[johanjohansen]

Man you guys are good at acting! I find the short clips of you in different situations very entertaining.

[pinecone]

This is the worst part about wearing suits. People assume that you are confident, can talk, and always know what to say. I don't.

[diesel_dawg]

Preston, sir, you look like a man from the '50s who has a superhero alter ego. lol

[gedcanonizado]

The quality of your videos are just top notch. Your channel is the epitome of why our time is called the information age. You give out free education, brothers. For that, thank you! Hoping nothing but the best for your channel and I'll continue my viewership.

[zigatelban]

Sven wearing an apple watch, now THAT suprised me.

[erforscher]

The only problem with your videos is that I cannot share it to my friends... They would misunderstand it...😅😂

[rokomarasovic]

Wonderful as always. Congratulations on every video you made!

[giusepperesponte]

The entire topic of conversation has been a learned skill for me, none of these things come naturally. My school years were full of all the mistakes in this video. It was honestly the worst time of my life, trying to connect with people and never succeeding. However, when something doesn’t come naturally, you become aware of it and consciously try to improve yourself, so it becomes a positive if you think of it that way. Now I’m a far better conversationalist than I was before, and I mean FAR better. Before I had no skill in conversation, now I can confidently say I’m better than most.

[mikeward]

The autism point is a good one and also applies to those who are partially sighted. Partially sighted people can have trouble seeing and interpreting social cues, body language, and facial expressions. Their disability may also not be apparent to other people, as other than eyeglasses (which a lot of sighted people incorrectly assume correct a persons’ vision completely), there is little to signal a person is partially sighted, as unlike those who are blind, partially sighted people do not wear sunglasses and may not use a white cane for navigation.

There are also conditions such as nystagmus (involuntary movement of the eyes), which make eye contact difficult, and to outside observers unfamiliar with the condition, create the false impression of inattentiveness or not listening.

[needfoolthings]

Preston's outfit for presenting the video is brilliant. Absolutely beautiful...

[giusepperesponte]

Man, this is the best video on this channel. I don’t always agree with a lot of what is said in the fashion advice videos, but I do with this one. If everyone were to watch this video and take in it’s insights, conversation would be a treat, sometimes it still is now, but often times the conversation is ruined by one of the traits on this list.

[cla_bla]

All of these points you are explaining in these videos seem so obvious. But, I also feel that the work you are doing here is so valuable and necessary in today's world. None of this is really taught in schools (at least formally, and definitely not in my time), yet it is all so important to becoming a functioning and healthy human being... and functional and healthy human beings lead to functional and healthy societies.

Kudos to you all for the work you do, I will be directing any friends or acquaintances who could benefit from these messages you are spreading, directly to your channel! Thanks so much!

[msbae]

Thanks for remembering us who are on the Spectrum. It's much appreciated.

[martian]

these videos are great, because it's easy to see you guys are having a great time making them

[PlanetYokoshima]

2:14
Best thing I needed to hear to fix myself. THANK YOU. I'm an introvert and always been left out of conversations and never heard to when I talk so I've been keeping my mouth shut in solitude for many years.... I need to think my input is valuable too.

[plumzzy]

Thanks for the shout out to your friends on the spectrum! It was a pleasant surprise when you spoke about the difficulties we have when interacting with people, and it's good advice.

[brenttesterman]

Truly in-depth content on a not so easy subject matter. I really enjoyed the pantomime/ body-language. You folks at GG make a great team!

[tonydeltablues]

This is very useful and very well done: I think most people would benefit from watching, even if they think they might be socially sophisticated and sensitive.
Bravo, Sven, Preston and Kyle.

[pboyd]

love your show. this was done brilliantly with humor knowledge on how to be sensitive to others and good taste. Oh and it is very helpful that you gave examples- that was key. just lovely. thank you