My Social Upgrade - Upgrade Your Social Skills, Upgrade Your Life. Improve Your Social Skills for Free.

To all my loyal subscribers:  There was a recent security breach here at MySocialUpgrade.com.  I have been negligent for too long and failed to update the security on my site.  I have taken appropriate measures to hopefully fix the issue. And to everyone wondering what I have been doing for the past few months, I [...]

I was reminded this holiday season of Newton’s Third Law of Motion, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  We visited both of our families for Thanksgiving, and each time, my three year old would run up to his relatives and greet them with a huge smile and a passionate, “HI AMA! [...]

If you and I were talking on the phone right now, and I told you that I just had a baby, how would you react?  Would you say something like, “Really? That’s great! Congratulations! How much did he weigh?” or something lifeless like, “That’s cool.”  We probably all know people from both sides of that [...]

Improving your social skills is not just about learning more social rules or witty phrases.  Sometimes just changing your mindset will have the most impact on your life.  Many people have developed a “shy” mindset that holds them back.  The shy mindset is primarily a passive view of conversation and social situations.  How would you [...]

I’m excited to announce that a new section has been added to the website:  PERSUASION.  This is a very important topic because we all have to persuade other people on a daily basis.  Even if you don’t think about it, you’re always persuading people in one way or another.  People who struggle in this area [...]

Here’s a secret: Good conversationalists aren’t necessarily more interesting than anyone else – they just know how to sound more interesting. Sometimes just one word can make the difference between someone laughing at your story, or not.  I have always been fascinated by how the great conversationalists can turn simple/trite phrases into conversation gold by simply adjusting how they phrase their [...]

The side comment trick has been used by good conversationalists and speakers for as long as I can remember.  A few years ago I was at an orientation meeting and the person speaking had to explain to everyone the new process and procedures.  Not particularly exciting material.  Actually, it was pretty boring.  But she still [...]

Have you ever accidently killed a conversation?  No one likes to let conversations die, but sometimes we can’t avoid it.  The worst part is, when a conversation dies, it’s usually a slow, painful death.  And you know when it’s coming too.  First the awkward silence.  Then you look at them, hoping they will think of [...]

People love stories.  Stories are used constantly in advertising, teaching, and of course entertainment.  You can make almost any conversation more interesting by telling stories.  What? You don’t consider yourself a good story teller?  No worries, you are in good company. Most people would rather let the “talkative” person regale the group with entertaining and [...]

If you want to improve your conversation, it’s a good idea to act like a journalist.  Journalists show interest in the other person and always have a new question to ask.  But acting like a journalist does have some limitations.  The journalist may ask someone, “So did you ever talk to Maureen about the project?” [...]