How to Become More Social

It is my personal thought in today’s world, to be social is a virtue. If you think about it, all success stems from the social.

For example, much success is to be had when you network, meet investors, build business connections, etc.

Also, assuming that you want to become a personality, start a YouTube channel or blog, etc., being more social is better than being less social.

Experience this

What holds us back?

I think a lot of people are held back by the fear of making other people feel uncomfortable. However let us note, if somebody is uncomfortable by your behavior, that is their problem, not yours. I think it is better to attempt to be insanely friendly, and make somebody feel uncomfortable, rather than not to attempt it at all.

Pragmatic exercises

A very very simple thought is if you want to become more social, one of the best places to go to is the gym. Or you could go to yoga, just sign up for a CorePower membership.

When you’re at the gym, don’t work out with headphones or AirPods on. This will give you the opportunity to talk to more people, and also let other people have the opportunity to talk to you.

Much of our social life is held back by the fact that our social sensors, a.k.a. our eyes in our ears are blocked. Our eyes are blocked by our phones, and our ears are blocked by our headphones or AirPods. If you want to be more social, just keep your phone in your backpack, and also don’t bring headphones to the gym, and also don’t work out with headphones on.

Get loud

Something funny that I have discovered is as I have become more loud, hypelifting at the gym, yelling loud, I attract a lot of attention. And as a result, a lot of people actually come up to me and just start chatting with me. Thus ironically enough, to open up more avenues of social life, get louder.

Also, when you see somebody that you like, somebody you want to talk to, or somebody who is just wearing a cool outfit or accessories, compliment them. Just approach them and compliment them on their clothes, shoes, accessories, look, etc. This can open up an opportunity for you to have a conversation with them.

Joke around

And the reason why I am so social is that I am like a big kid. I like to joke, have fun, be an entertainer and joker. I think a lot of people want to “look cool“, but in fact, that is just a signal of insecurity and lack of self-confidence.

Street confidence

A lot of street photography is confidence in the context of strangers on the streets. There is a silly bias in street photography that you’re not allowed to talk to people. I say it doesn’t matter whether you shoot it with permission or without, it just depends on the situation, what type of photo you want to make, and your mood.

In fact, I believe it actually takes more courage to approach a stranger and ask for permission to make a portrait of them, than to shoot a candid photo of them.

A very very simple way to approach a stranger and ask to make a portrait of them is to approach them, and say, excuse me sir, or excuse me miss, I love your look. Do you mind if I make a portrait of you?

A simple way to build your confidence is approach a bunch of strangers and try to intentionally get rejected 10 times. The STREET NOTES approach // digital.

Pedro Miranda & Forró da Gávea