Articles List

This page is the main listing of all the site's articles on how to improve your social skills, and on how to get past awkwardness, shyness, loneliness, not being accepted for being different, and other interpersonal problems.



Complete Article List

Here's the full list of the site's articles. Don't feel you have to read all of them, or read them all in order.

Jump to a section:

Introductory Articles
The Process Of Improving
Shyness, Fears, Insecurities, and Negative Moods
Meeting People And Making Friends
Making Conversation
Generally Improving Your Social Skills
Having A Negative View Of Certain Aspects Of Socializing
The Idea Of Changing
Not Fitting Into The Norm
Developmental Differences
Miscellaneous




Meeting People And Making Friends

This section covers the steps that go into making friends, from finding people to meet, to organizing plans with them, to working out some of the kinks in your relationship.

Basic Principles

How to Make Friends And Get A Social Life
Mistakes Lonely People Often Make

Meeting People

How To Meet People
How To Find Events And Clubs In Your Community
Improving Your Social Prospects Before You Try Meeting Anyone

Making Plans

Making Plans With People
Examples Of Ways To Invite People To Hang Out
Inviting Yourself To Social Events
Things To Do With Other People

Making Friends In Specific Situations

How To Make Friends In College Or University
How To Make Friends In A New City / After University
Making Friends When You're Married

Forming Certain Types Of Social Circles

How To Make A Group Of Friends
How To Have A Lot Of Friends And Create A Large Social Circle

Problems With Making Friends

When Your Life Circumstances Interfere With Your Social Life
Problems You Can Have While Trying To Make Friends In College
When People Don't Seem Interested In Starting Friendships With You
When You Feel Like You Don't Fully Fit Into Any Social Group

Planning Problems

Worries People Often Have About Making Friends And Plans
When Friends Are Always Late Or Unreliable
Ways People Can Unintentionally Leave Friends Out Of Social Events

Problems With Existing Friends

When You Feel Like A Second Tier Member Of Your Social Group
When You Feel Like Your Social Circle Is Indifferent To You
When Your Friends Tease You A Lot
When You Feel Like Your Group Of Friends Could Be Better




Generally Improving Your Social Skills

These articles are about various ways you can become more interesting and likable, navigate specific situations, and avoid acting awkward. This section is also a bit of a catch-all and covers topics that don't neatly fit elsewhere.

Being More Fun And Friendly

How To Be More Friendly And Social
How To Be More Fun
Regular Logical Mode vs. Fun Partying Mode In Social Interactions

Socializing in Certain Environments

Hanging Out With New People Who All Know Each Other
How To Mingle And Talk To People At Parties
The Challenges Of Socializing At An Office Job
Ways People In High School Can Work On Their Social Skills

Knowledge & Lifestyle

Factors That Can Boost Your Social Success Quite Quickly
How Your Interests Can Affect Your Social Success
At Times It's Practical To Know Things Other People Care About
How Traveling/Backpacking Can Boost Your Social Skills
Lifestyle Factors That Can Affect Your Social Success
Reading More Can Indirectly Boost Your Social Success

More General Concepts

Loosen Up To Be More Socially Successful
The Importance Of Simplicity And The Basics In Social Interactions

Broader Skills

Thoughts On How To Be Funny
How To Dance - For Average Guys And Girls
Thoughts On How To Be More Interesting

Non-Verbal Communication

The Importance of Getting Your Appearance In Order
Learning To Make More Eye Contact With People

Getting Drained By Socializing

When You Easily Get Drained And Tired In Social Situations
Reasons People May Feel Drained While Socializing

Psychology

Some Ways People Are Mentally Lazy About Judging Others

Technology And Socializing

A Bunch Of Social Issues Related To Texting
A Bunch Of Social Issues Related To Social Networking Sites

Advice Geared More Towards Men

When You're A Guy Who Has Trouble Relating To Other Guys
Is It Okay To Hang Out With Another Guy One On One?

Advice Geared More Towards Women

Inside The Mind Of Guys Who Are Shy With Women
Problems Facing Women Who Are Shy And Inexperienced With Men

Things That Can Make You Seem More Socially Awkward

Social Mistakes Intellectual People Can Make
Reasons Someone May See You As Weird
Being Guarded, Secretive, And Defensive
Being Too Negative In Social Situations
Being Less Naive And Innocent And Getting More Of An Edge
Feeling Overly Intimidated By Certain Types Of People

Substances And Socializing

Ways To Get Away With Not Drinking In Social Situations
Alcohol, Drugs, And Socializing

Issues That Get More Relevant As Your Skills Improve

When People Don't Notice You've Improved
Some Things That May Happen As You Get Better Social Skills
Talking To Shyer, Quieter, Or Less Social People
Dealing With Regrets Caused By Your Poor People Skills



The Idea of Changing

Many people will be coming to this site with a bunch of social changes they want to make. Other readers are more wary about the idea of having to change to do better socially. The concept may make them think of things like conforming and selling out, or having to change more about themselves than they'd like. There aren't any single, neat answers for this issue, but these articles explore it from a number of perspectives.

The Three General Philosophies Towards Changing

The Being True To Yourself Approach to Changing
The Pragmatic Adaptation Approach To Changing
The Truly Trying To Change Yourself Approach To Changing

Some Other Issues That The Idea Of Changing Raises

Changing Your Social Skills vs. Changing Your Entire Personality
What's a Social Difference And What's A Social Weakness?
Are Certain Social Traits Changeable Or Not?
For Any Trait Keep The Good Parts And Toss The Bad
Pragmatic Motivations People Have For Improving Their Social Skills
Social Skills Are Ultimately Subjective
Social Skills Are Very Nice To Have But Ultimately Optional
It's Very Tricky To Know What You Want Socially
Ideas That Can Excuse Not Working On Your Social Weaknesses




Miscellaneous

A few random articles that aren't super heavy on advice, and which share my thoughts and reflections on some things. You may find them interesting to read, even if they're not ultra helpful.

How I Naturally Became Less Obsessive About Video Games
How The Type Of Advice Someone Can Give Can Change Over Time