Perfecting you social skills

You can develop good strong social skills. Once you do this, you will have the ability to positively influence others and open many doors of opportunity.

Here are 5 Social Skills to help you meet interesting people, make lasting friendships, do well in school, and in life.

Remain Relaxed: Regardless of how good you are in social situations, if you appear nervous, it will be more difficult to build relationships with others.

Be a Good Listener: Good listening skills include: Making "I'm listening" noises - 'Uh-huh', 'really?', 'oh yes?' etc.
Feeding back on what you've heard - "So, she went to her grandma's in Florida for the summer? Did she have a good time?"
Referring back to others' comments later on - "You know how you were saying earlier."
Being still (no fidgeting) and paying attention while the other person is talking.

Be Concerned and Take Interest in Others' Situations: An intense interest in another's conversation not only makes you feel more comfortable, but it makes the person your speaking to feel like they are being listened to.

Limit How Much You Talk About Yourself: Talking about yourself too much and too early can be a major turn-off for the other person in the conversation. Good initial "small-talk" is often characterized by discussion of general subjects not too personal like school topics, the local or national news, etc. However, as conversations and relationships progress, talking about personal facts (small non-emotional ones first, please!) leads to a feeling of getting to know each other.

Make Eye Contact: If you don't look at someone when you are talking or listening to them, they will get the idea that: a) You are ignoring them; b) You are hiding something; c) You don't want to look at them for some reason. This doesn't mean that you have to stare. Keeping your eyes on them periodically while you are listening, is okay.