Popularity – a Beginners Guide
by A quick "how to" on making friends, and getting social.
Alright boys and girls, if you’re here it means you want to up your social life, and so I present to you my guide on making new friends, and zooming up the social charts. It starts from scratch, but if you’re ahead of the plan, skip down to the section that bests suits you!
The loner phase
Maybe you’ve just moved, just started university, whatever. You’re alone, and need to make some friends. First things first: what are your interests? Hopefully these will somehow involve others – competitive sport, dancing, watching sports events at the bar…All these are excellent places to start. If you enjoy nothing that affords contact with new people, then go back to the basics – your job, or your course. In both of these you will inevitably have some people of your age that you can make friends with. Remember, and this is important, EVEN IF YOU DON’T LIKE THEM, YOU MAY LIKE THEIR FRIENDS! It never hurts to know more people.
One friend
So, now you have at least one person you can talk to, from one of these groups. Easy conversation starters – mention a current topic on the news (nothing too heavy duty, just sports, or gossip, anything will do). Once you hit a subject that they seem to enjoy talking about, you’re in. Let them talk, and prompt the conversation when you can to get them to continue. After this, it will be only natural to talk to them again and again, either at work, school, college or the bar. Once you feel confident enough, ask for their phone number, and suggest you meet up for a beer. This works best if it involves watching “the game” or some local concert. Get them to bring along their friends so you can meet them too. This also avoids potential embarrassment about it seeming like a date.
Group of acquaintances
Before you go, prepare yourself: as these people know almost nothing about you, you can make yourself in to whatever you want to be. Bring in some interesting life stories of yours, some tales from abroad, a few drinking stories (if appropriate). Even if you’ve led a boring life, you can still make something up, but don’t make it too grandiose. Keep the boasting to a minimum: the right story gives the impression that you’re social, a nice person, and can take a joke. A story I often bring out (one that actually happened to me) was when driving my father’s jeep in the desert, I managed to roll it over (cue laughter about my pathetic driving, and hours of jokes). Now they know that I travel, drive, and make a fool out of myself, but can still laugh. If you’re really feeling desperate, go look up some jokes online as a backup plan.
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