No one likes to waste time, so learning some ways to have more meaningful conversations can improve your relationships at home, work and play. As well as making you more productive, more meaningful conversations can help you build rapport with colleagues, grow closer to partners and have better understanding of your friends. Try these ways to add meaning to your conversations:
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1. Don’t Speed through Your Thoughts
Don’t spend the whole conversation getting excited about what you are going to say next. Rather, be present in the moment and concentrate on what you are saying right then. Getting ahead of yourself is sure fire way to ruin a developing conversation.
2. Ask Good Questions
Make sure to ask questions that prove to the other person that you are completely engaged. Pick up on what they are saying to you and encourage then to continue by playing along with the thread of the conversation, reacting to natural pauses and inserting questions that will allow them to continue talking.
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3. Do Your Homework
If this conversation is going to be between you and a potential employer, for example, then make sure that you have done a little background research so that you can drop in meaningful things during the conversation. Be careful though, you don’t want to go in too heavy and sound like a stalker!
4. Be Relatable
If you are trying to butter this person up, or even just come across as instantly likeable, then a great way to do this is by showing your compassionate, empathetic side. Wherever the conversation goes, phrases like “I know how you feel” and “I feel exactly the same way” can do a lot for relationship building.
5. Don’t Waste Time
If your conversation is destined to be brief, then the best way to make an impact in short space of time is to be economical with your talking points. Show people that you value their time by keeping things short and simple and not taking up too much of it if you know they are in a hurry.
6. Give People Space
Try not to dominate the conversation. People tend to have a much better recollection of a conversation and pleasant memory of the person if you have let them talk to you at their own pace and not interrupted them too much. Interruptions can be extremely annoying.
7. Try to Add Value
Make sure that the time you have spent together is meaningful by trying to add real value to the conversation. This means going past the awkward small talk stage and getting into some really meaty talking points if you can. It’s hard to connect with people using just small talk.
8. Do What You Can to Help
Don’t just be a face that your companion can vent to in times of need. Digest what is being said during the conversation and then ask them outright what it is that you can do to help. This shows a meaningful willingness to go beyond mere casual conversation.
9. Reach out
Make sure that you are not always the person who waits for contact to be made, it feels really great when somebody reaches out to you personally so strive to do that more often with your friends. More meaningful conversations tend to stem from occasions where a person has reached out out of the blue.
10. Lower Your Barriers
You can’t hope to have a meaningful conversation with somebody if your own barriers are still up. In the spirit of total honesty and vulnerability, it’s important that you are just as open as you want the person you are talking to to be. Total openness is the only way to have a meaningful conversation.
11. Remember
It’s all well and good listening in the moment, but your relationship is never going to go any deeper if you don’t remember the important things that are said to you. Keep the vital information in your mind and it will make future conversations much more meaningful when you can bring up past thoughts.
12. Don’t Brag
If you are just starting out with a new friend or potential love interest, it helps not to start too cocky right off the bat. It’s never fun to hear about how awesome somebody is repeatedly and from their own mouth, so hold off bragging, even if you have right to!
13. Include Others
There is nothing more awkward than having a conversation with somebody in a party setting but not acknowledging others that are stood around nearby. Make things as effortless and carefree as possible by regarding and involving others how might be stood by you, it comes across as much less snobby!
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