🚪Doorknobs & chit chat

#016

Morning everyone!

A student came to me with a problem last week.

‘I need to get better at small talk. You know chit chat’.

He was going to a wedding and wanted to feel comfortable chatting to others.

I told him there were a few principles to connect with people better.

One of them was to create ‘doorknobs’.

Doorknobs? You mean like pomos? What are you talking about?'

Well, imagine if you ask a question like ‘where did you get married?’

They tell you the location and the conversation stops. Boring.

So what you want to do is create doorknobs - statements or questions that invite others to open them and walk through them by telling a story.

A better question would be, ‘how did you decide on your wedding venue?’

This way someone can explain their thought process and you, as the listener, will have more opportunities to keep the conversation going.

Doorknobs create stories.

Create some doorknobs next time you make small talk.

Invite others to tell a story

This week’s 3 tips:

SOMETHING TO AVOID 🫣

🤦🏻‍♀️ ‘I have too much job’

You have a job, yes, but you would never ask ‘how much job do you have?’

‘I have too much work’

A job is refers to your position. Work relates to the carga.

I like the new job because I have less work than before

Lucky you! I have more work than ever.

SOMETHING TO SOUND CONFIDENT 🧐

👔 Business jargon explained

‘Throw a spanner in the works’

(Literalmente tirar una llave inglesa en la maquina)

Spanish version: ‘poner un palo en la rueda’

To cause a problem or difficulty.

The funding has been canceled so that has really thrown a spanner in the works! How can we continue this project now?

SOMETHING TO WATCH 👀

A 20 minute video of Tim Ferriss trying to learn a new language in only 3 days.

Worth a watch!

Keep learning,

The Crystal Clear English Team

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