5 Tips To Approach People You've Just Met

Forming new friendships will open up your world in a way you’ve never imagined. Imagine easily finding new mentors, developing new connections, or new relationships. But to do this, you need to be less of a shy turtle and more of a social butterfly.

However, in theory, everything is better said than done, especially if the thought of approaching people makes you sweat a little. When adulting, the stakes are higher, and it’s no longer as simple as sharing your school break with a stranger and instantly becoming best friends.

Talking to new people can bring about tons of awkward silences or shallow conversation, which means you need to equip yourself beforehand. Therefore, use these five tips to approach strangers to make friends with people you’ve just met.

Take Note Of Opportunities

Learn to seize the moment. Unfortunately, you will not get a grand gesture from the universe to inspire you to approach someone; therefore, you need to put in the work yourself. That means recognizing tiny moments where you can jump in.

Observe if someone is standing close to you, reading a book of similar interests, or having a free moment in between work. Saying a simple hello at that moment might surprise you on how far the conversation goes.

Give A Compliment

Giving people compliments may be a perfect opportunity to lay a foundation to create new relationships. Therefore, you can go the simple route of complementing the material things or make it a little more personal with compliments on their character, laugh, or ethic.

Besides, receiving a personal compliment is an excellent way to steer off superficial topics and form meaningful friendships. But remember not to make the entire conversation about throwing in compliments; that’s a little overboard.

Go Off Script

People would like to experience the real you during a conversation to feel comfortable showing you the real them. Therefore, be authentic and try to steer off the typical conversations such as where do you work? Or where do you live? And try using statements instead.

For instance, you can talk about how crowded the place is or what you find curious about a particular item, giving the person space to air their opinions. This makes a conversation more engaging, allowing you and your new friend space to learn about each other.

Build A Quick Rapport

Don’t be too quick to jump in with your experience when someone has just talked about theirs. You can easily look self-centered, which isn’t the goal. Instead, try and build a rapport with someone by changing the conversation to a shared experience.

For instance, if that person mentions they have a pet, you can also add that you have a pet and the specific experience it brought to your life. Doing this will make you seem more relatable, allowing you and the other person to find common ground between the two of you.

Use Humor

Who doesn’t love a good laugh? We are not saying transform into the class clown but be your hilarious, fun self to see if you have friendship chemistry. After all, great friendships consist of the basis of whether you two can enjoy a good laugh.

But keep in mind it’s not about impressing the other person but putting them at ease. It will show the other person a glimpse into your personality, allowing them to drop their guard down, letting you both not take things too seriously.