It is crucial that you learn to find comfort when talking to strangers on a daily basis. There are a lot of advantages that come with being able to do so with ease. First off people that are very successful and get ahead in life are usually those that have mastered the art of talking to strangers. Other introverted individuals can find a lot of success as well, though typically they resort to allowing their work speak on behalf of them.

The problem in doing that is that said "work" may fall on deaf ears depending on both the attention span of their audience and their appetite for something that is completely different. If you can't get someones attention quickly, and command their attention you'll probably loose them forever.

Look at talking to strangers as a sale that is would benefit you to close. If you don't extend yourself to them, you've lost them to someone else who is more than happy to close that sale for you. That's work lost, and time wasted, and then you have to start over again with the next person. People that you know you too well listen to you that much less, so take advantage of the opportunity to embrace someone different when it presents itself.

But talking to strangers is more than mere opportunity, it is a way for you to find yourself and figure who you truly are. We don't know who we are when we only deal with those that we are most comfortable dealing with. People who know is intimately have a tendency to want to dictate to us as to who or what they think that we are or should be. That can create a conflict of interests in the relationship, but if you don't assert yourself with those you know, at least do so with those you will inevitably meet.

We all find ourselves in situations with those we aren't comfortable talking with, and they seem to spearhead the conversation and run off with it. They're secure in who they are, they know what they want, but we're unsure about ourselves. At the end of the day we're not really sure why they spoke to us, and they may not have been either, but it was a positive interaction that you can reflect on.

So what happens when you are anticipating seeing that person again, and that opportunity never presents itself. If you had listened actively, expressed yourself and what you have to offer thoroughly, you could have created an environment where you two would meet from time to time.

Now myself I am rather introverted, so I rarely talk to anyone first. But when someone does speak to me I seize the opportunity as I am fascinated by human behavior and enjoy getting to know people. Yet my circle remains small, I don't get out much because I work a lot but I do run into a lot of people throughout the day. My work involves talking with complete strangers over the phone it is rare that I speak to someone more than once. But I had to learn to make the best of that one time I talked to them, not just to prevent them from having to call back again and talk to someone else, but to keep myself adept at my own job skills.

I worked data entry for years, rarely spoke to anyone I didn't know or didn't have to speak to. But I've also done tech support for years as well, and it's helped me a lot with my communication skills and tremendously with my writing. You would think having communications skills wouldn't necessarily help a writer, as introverted as they tend to be. But nothing is further from the truth.

Talk to strangers whenever possible, you would be amazed at the impact you can have on someone else's life, and the way in which it can enrich your own.

Learn more about this author, Christopher Kendalls.
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