Intro to SucceedSocially.com
SucceedSocially.com is a free collection of articles related to improving social skills, dealing with shyness, and working around the problems that come from not fitting into the norm. It's one of the most extensive sites on the topic on the internet, and I'm always adding to it.
- Some people may only be here because they need a suggestion or two in one area, but taken as a whole the site is a detailed guide on how to get past all-around social awkwardness.
- This site is a one man show. I used to be really shy, lonely, and socially clueless myself and everything written here is based on my own experiences and conclusions in overcoming these problems for myself.
- The advice is geared towards helping unhappily shy, lonely, and socially inexperienced people catch up to everyone else, not so much on how to become a superstar salesman, schmoozer, corporate climber type. It's about how to go from a '3' to a '7', not how to go from a '7' to a '9'.
- The content is geared towards adults and older teenagers, though some of the advice could be applied to younger children.
This site has advice about the main social trouble areas:
- Meeting people, making friends, and getting over loneliness
- Dealing with shyness, fears, insecurities, and lack of confidence while socializing
- Learning to make better conversation, and deal with specific types of conversations
- Generally improving the social package you present, by developing appealing traits and eliminating bad habits (an admittedly broad category)
- Working with issues such as Social Anxiety and Asperger's Syndrome
The site also covers topics related to the process and idea of improving socially:
- Feeling ambivalent about changing socially, seeing it as selling out or having to compromise your personality, wanting to change on one level, but not on others, and not being sure where to find the balance
- Feeling that your main social 'problem' is that you're just different from other people, in terms of your interests or style of socializing, and that you get a hard time because of it
- Having trouble with the process of improving your social skills, like finding the motivation, looking for a magic bullet, or not knowing where to start
- Having a negative view of certain aspects of socializing, and how that can affect someone's progress
