If you are the most interesting person in the room, you need to find a different room.
If anything, you want to be the least interesting person in the room, because then you’ll:
- Stop talking and listen
- Take it all in
- Ask questions and learn
We think we want to be the most interesting, or the coolest, or the smartest, and be surrounded by people who hang off our every word. But that’s not a good plan, because then we hit a ceiling and there’s nowhere to go from there.
If you want to be a more interesting person, be more interested in other people. Ask more questions, be curious. Go down rabbit holes of other people's hopes and dreams and find the things you have in common. When they tell you stories, ask follow up questions, dig deeper. Most people just retort with a story of their own. They seek to one-up the other person. Don't be that guy.
Curiosity wins every time. The more interested you are in other people, the more interesting you become to them. The deeper you dig, the more you learn, the better the insights you have to share. Your relationship goes from being surface level and anecdotal to really deep and meaningful. They see you as an interesting person. And you will feel like you are.
Let’s aspire to find the new rooms of people who are a few steps ahead, or have solved problems we haven’t yet faced, or have ideas we haven’t thought of. Let's get curious about them, gently quiz them, and find out more.
That is where the magic happens.
How are you finding those new rooms?