There are two moments that a conversation can go awry.
The first is when you don’t know what to say. I was at a holiday party last night and stood next to a couple of people who had no clue what to say to each other. They exchanged names and then stood in silence. This situation happens all the time, but doesn’t need to.
The second moment conversations go askew is when there’s no direction for the conversation to go in. I sat and had coffee with a friend a couple of weeks ago and the conversation we had seemed to loop over and over. Neither of us brought anything new into the conversation. Neither of us lead it into an interesting space.
Conversations go awry because there’s no questions fueling them. There have been articles about the 36 questions that can make strangers fall in love, videos too, and it’s all good and fun, but in turning it into clickbait, it has lost its realness.
Questions are the foundation to golden conversations.
Having 36 (or even 5) questions in your mind to ask to strangers ensures there’s never awkward silence. Asking powerful questions that allow someone (whether you know them or not) to use their imagination is critical to ensuring conversation doesn’t get repeatably banal.
Stay Positive & Ask More
Photo credit
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