Rephrase What Your Partner Is Saying to Make the Conversation More Enjoyable
Cynics believe that most people are just waiting in line to speak up in a conversation. Avoid stereotypes by listening to and paraphrasing what your partner tells you in return. This is one of the ways to become a prettier conversation partner.
As the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree explains, paraphrasing what the other person is telling you is an exercise in listening. It forces you to pay attention to and retain key facts. However, it also has the added benefit of making you prettier. Most people enjoy being noticed and understood. If you can effectively summarize what they are telling you, they will probably appreciate it:
I like to play a little game: “Can I summarize what the person just said to make them happy?” If you repeat the gist of what they said and they say, “Exactly,” you are doing great.
Of course, this method requires an element of passive listening. You can’t just use a mental thesaurus to change a few words. However, if you make an effort to understand the person’s point of view and explain how you interpret it, they are more likely to respond positively to you.
How to be someone they like to talk to | Bark on the wrong tree