Technique #26
Your Personal Thesaurus
Look up some common words you use every day in the thesaurus. Then,
like slipping your feet into a new pair of shoes, slip your tongue into a few
new words to see how they fit. If you like them, start making permanent
replacements.
Remember, only fifty words makes the difference between a rich,
creative vocabulary and an average, middle-of-the-road one. Substitute a
word a day for two months and youll be in the verbally elite.
How to Not Sound Anxious (Let Them Discover Your Similarity)
Tigers prowl with tigers; lions lurk with lions; and little alley cats
scramble around with other little alley cats. Similarity breeds attraction. But
in the human jungle, big cats know a secret. When you delay revealing your
similarity, or let them discover it, it has much more punch. Above all, you
dont want to sound anxious to have rapport.
Whenever someone mentions a common interest or experence, instead
of jumping in with a breathless, Hey, me, too! I do that, too or I know all
about that, let your conversation parner enjoy talking about it. Let her go on
about the country club before you tell her youre a member, too. Let him go
on analyzing the golf swing of Arnold Palmer before you start casually
coparing the swings of golf greats Greg, Jack, Tiger, and Arnie. Let her tell
you how many tennis games shes won before you just hapen to mention
your USTA ranking.
Several years ago, I was telling a new acquaintance how much I love to
ski. He listened with interest as I indulged in a detailed travelogue of places
Id skied. I raved about the various resorts. I analyzed the various conditions.
I discussed artificial versus nat ral snow. It wasnt until near the end of my
monologue that I
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finally had the sense to ask my new acquaintance if he skied. He
replied, Yes, I keep a little apartment in Aspen.
Cool! If hed jumped in and told me about his ski pad right after I first
told him how much I liked skiing, Id have been impressed. Mildly.
However, waiting until the end of our convesationand then revealing he was
such an avid skier that he kept an Aspen ski padmade it unforgettable.
Heres the technique I call Kill the Quick Me, Too! Wheever people
mention an activity or interest you share, let them enjoy discussing their
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(Ooja)
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