Pretend you and I are about to get married in one hour – and you know all about me, but I know nothing about you (it was an arranged marriage). Of course, I want to know everything about you before we get hitched. I’m going to ask you questions about all of the following – can you answer them quickly? Take some time answering this list if you can. Are there areas where you struggle to think of a response? Then fill in the gaps and you’ll be more prepared for every conversation going forward.
Five bad habits/traits.
Five things you’re good at.
Five role models.
Favorite movies (in each genre if possible).
Favorite actor /actress.
Five favorite movie lines.
Favorite car.
Favorite period in history.
Five favorite meals / desserts.
Favorite breakfast, lunch, dinner restaurant.
Favorite place you have visited or want to visit.
Two hobbies.
Five pet peeves.
Five favorite things that make you happy.
Favorite class.
Favorite teacher.
Five weaknesses / things you want to improve.
Five strengths / things you’re proud of.
Five favorite songs (in each genre if possible).
Favorite memory from the past week. The past year. The past fifteen years.
Favorite thing about your family / friends.
Five goals you have.
Favorite sports / teams / players.
Favorite clothing items / companies / designers.
Five things you love to do.
A famous person you’d love to meet and talk to.
Five fun flaws (I’m horrible at directions, etc).
Your political views
Favorite game.
Favorite clothing designer.
Favorite books.
Favorite drink.
Favorite part about your job.
Fun observations about women/men.
Favorite part of your best friend.
There are many more but these provide a good foundation. Exploring these will help you deliver strong (and hopefully fun) opinions, share interesting stories, and offer quick tidbits about yourself without much thought.
Your second challenge: Go back, and where appropriate, think of the opposite of each topic (e.g. your least favorite thing).
Your third challenge: Explain WHY for as many of the topics as possible. Can you say something interesting, or better yet, a 60 second story involving each category? If it involves a song or movie – can you think of/say a famous quote or line from it?
Don’t forget; let the other person talk about themselves more than you talk about yourself.
I just want to say that you have a seriously awesome blog. I rarely go back to blogs after reading the article I landed on…but I know I will be making this one a regular. I love your attention to detail and specific advice rather than the sweeping generalizations that so many people write about good conversation, good storytelling, etc (If I had a dime for every time I read “be a good listener”). Again…awesome awesome blog. Thanks
And I also rarely buy ebooks on blogs, but I want to buy your ebook just to support what I see to be awesome focus on something I am personally quite interested in, so hurry up and finish it!
Thanks for all the kind words Hannah! I completely agree that too many books are full of generic advice that really doesn’t help anyone. I have wasted a lot of money on those books over the years. You’ll find mine to be much different, I promise.
Geoff