Genuine interest

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in people than you can in two years trying to get people interested in you.”

The interest you show in someone and the interest they show in you can make or break a relationship.

I used to show disinterest whenever something didn’t entertain me. I wouldn’t even question whether it was worth giving a chance. I would just overlook it and go on with my business.

Doing this kept my circle very small. The people who understood me were around me no matter what, but new people felt like there was no reason to give me the time of day. Why?

IF YOU DON’T SHOW INTEREST IN THEM, THEY WON’T SHOW INTEREST IN YOU.

Why would someone give me the time of day if I immediately looked past what they care about?

I always told myself the reason I did it was because I didn’t want to meet people who are inauthentic. But the truth is, I did it because I didn’t think anyone would take interest in me. So rather than giving them the chance to, I didn’t let them.

It was an immature way of going about life.

But over time, I started to realize that the little things you think are unimportant about yourself, somebody else finds really interesting.

I think about it every time I meet someone from a much different place than I am from. They talk down about their hometown while I have been dreaming about going there for years.

The key is to find a simple quality, or fact about a person that you find interesting and ask them about it. Once you get them talking about it, show genuine interest in the topic. That’s why it is important to bring up something you care about. By showing the person you care about it, and you are interested in them, they instantly become more interested in you.

As soon as I started doing this, I instantly started attracting more people to me. I continued doing it with the same people, and they stuck around. Soon enough, they become part of your tight knit inner circle.

Since I have become more aware of doing this myself, I have noticed when people don’t do it for me. I observe my reaction and dive into how it makes me feel.

To me, nothing hurts worse than emphatically talking about something I care about and the response I get from the person is disinterest. I have noticed that as soon as I experience this with a person, I am unlikely to tell them anything else, or even want to spend time with them.

Becoming aware of how this makes me feel has shown me the importance of showing genuine interest in others.

SHOWING GENUINE INTEREST MAKES OTHERS FEEL IMPORTANT.

Everyone wants to feel important. That is why you crave likes on social media. You crave recognition for the work you do. You crave attention in a public gathering.

You just want to feel important.

But knowing that you wish to feel important, realize others do too.

So make them feel that way.

Show genuine interest.

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Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.