following technique, set your mind at rest. You can definitely make the
conversation hot for anyone with whom you speak. Like my prom date,
Donnie, you will miraculously find subjects to engross your listeners.
Be a Sleuth on Their Slips of the Tongue
No matter how elusive the clue, Sherlock Holmes is confident hell soon
be staring right at it through his magnifying glass. Like the unerring
detective, big winners know, no matter how elusive the clue, theyll find the
right topic. How? They become word detectives.
I have a young friend, Nancy, who works in a nursing home. Nancy
cares deeply about the elderly but often grumbles about how crotchety and
laconic some of her patients are. She laments she has difficulty relating to
them.
Nancy told me about one especially cantankerous old woman named
Mrs. Otis, whom she could never get to open up to her.
One day, Nancy confided, right after all those rainstorms we had last
week, just to make conversation, I remarked to Mrs. Otis, Terrible storms
we had last week, dont you think? Well, Nancy continued, Mrs. Otis
practically jumped down my throat. She said in a snippy voice, Its been
good for the plants. I asked Nancy how she responded to that.
What could I say? Nancy answered. The woman was obvously cutting
me off.
Did you ever think to ask Mrs. Otis if she liked plants? Plants? Nancy
asked. Well, yes, I suggested. Mrs. Otis brought the subject up.
I asked Nancy to do me a favor. Ask her, I begged. Nancy rsisted, but I
persisted. Just to quiet me down, Nancy promised to ask cantankerous old
Mrs. Otis if she liked plants.
The next day, a flabbergasted Nancy called me from work. Leil, how
did you know? Not only did Mrs. Otis love plants, but she told me shed
been married to a gardener. Today I had a diferent problem with Mrs. Otis. I
couldnt shut her up! She went on and on about her garden, her husband....
Top communicators know ideas dont come out of nowhere. If Mrs. Otis
thought to bring up plants, then she must have some relationship with them.
Furthermore, by mentioning the word, it meant subconsciously she wanted
to talk about plants.
Suppose, for example, instead of responding to Nancys coment about
the rain with Its good for the plants, Mrs. Otis had said, Because of the rain,
my dog couldnt go out. Nancy could then ask about her dog. Or suppose
ooja
(Ooja)
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