| Hello people,
Juggler is my hero. His advise on overcoming approach anxiety is to randomly phone people and ask for film recommendations. Not only is it effective against AA, but helps you identify and delete any tonality issues you have, and dramatically improve your social and conversational skills.
Phoning random people is quite weird, but there's no denying that it's a good emulation of what we're trying to achieve here. I advise you to buy a cheap mobile phone and call local land-line numbers off-peak . I've got to be honest, when I try doing this I get Approach Anxiety just by dialing the number, however, in terms of practice, the technique is infinitely better and much less nerve-racking than nakedly approaching HBs on the street, because you have an infinite amount of time to pull the trigger, there is no diminishing window of opportunity, and you can end the conversation anytime you want. You can also use a script.
Of course, I have to point out that malicious phone calls are illegal, so don't do it. Don't phone the same number multiple times because they will identify you as a nuisance caller (which is also illegal).
The method I do is slightly different from Juggler's. I phone up local businesses and make inquiries about their their company. For example, I might phone a boxing gym and ask whether Boxing makes a good hobby or not, and then I try to expand the conversation into areas such as favorite boxer, what other sports they follow, etc. The aim is to always build rapport and personalise the conversation.
Eventually, you will become very confident. Once you've conquered the fear of talking to random people on the telephone, you will be much better equipped to converse with random people in bookstores, Clothes shops, Bars, cafes, etc.
Does anyone think this is useful?
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