How to Be More Interesting

While most people around us are striving for money or good looks, the ones who achieve real social success are often the genuinely interesting personalities. This could be because people are jaded by the mainstream norms of beauty and financial success and instead are attracted to those who possess something different and unique. Here are a few tips on how to be more interesting and thus be more of a social magnet that the merely rich and beautiful.

What makes you unique?

In order to be thought of as interesting you need to focus on what makes you unique; consider how you can stand out in a crowd and what makes you different – in an awesome kind of way – than others in your business or group. It could be a skill with computers, the cello, various languages or simply a way that you have with kids. Every person is born with a special set of talents and you need to recognize and nurture that so that others in turn recognize your unique worth and are attracted to it.

Find your passion

A useful way of projecting a unique personality is to nurture something that you are passionate about. Instead of thinking whether an activity or venture is financially lucrative or merely trendy, find something that interests you, moves you to the depth. It could be something as varied as collecting comic books, trying out Oriental recipes or whale-watching. What is your area of expertise? Chances are there’s an audience for your passions. The more unique and focused your niche, the better, it means less people are competing for your audience.

Increase your exposure

Being interesting is often about introducing people to new things  - not so much as straight-up facts or dry statistics but rather things such as little pieces of trivia, ideas, tastes, concepts, philosophies, perspectives, or world views. The important thing though is that you are unlikely to be able to do this sitting at home or having only the TV as your leisure activity. You stand a far better chance of portraying a multi-faceted personality by expanding your reading habits. Novels, histories, biographies, adventures stories and even magazines can tell you so much about the world and in turn help you transmit all that you absorb to others around you. Likewise seize every opportunity to travel since any amount of exposure to different people, cultures and lands can help you to broaden your mental horizons. In fact it is not even necessary to range far and wide to liven up your personality – simply seek out new places in your town or if a festival comes to your city, check it out and be able to report on it, instead of staying in. Also instead of sticking to the familiar, try new things. Expose yourself to new ideas, listen to new music and watch new movies. You don’t have to like every new thing you do but just the act of doing it will help you form your own opinions and who knows, you may even end up liking something different that you try out – all of which will help you acquire an interesting persona.

Gather expertise

Yet another way to heighten interest in who you are is to become an expert in your field. Find ways of providing useful as well as entertaining information on your niche. Be open to the process of exchanging information in your chosen field – for instance interview the experts  in your area of interest even as you agree to speak at workshops or clubs . All this will help turn into an expert so that when someone thinks about your niche, you will turn out to be the go-to person.

Be you

At the same time though don’t fake who you are. If you are no good with paints and colors, don’t parade as an artist simply because you think a bohemian lifestyle is cool. Be you, or even maybe a slightly exaggerated version of you but remember to keep your own talents at the core of your personality. It is not necessary that everyone should like who you are or that they agree with your life values and style in fact you may even have to deal with some criticism. But if you wish to be thought of as an interesting personality rather than a merely likable one, you need to take that chance. What’s more, if you’re authentic, you will find an audience who appreciates you, if not for the values you stand for, at least for the genuineness and sincerity of your stance.

Work at communication skills

It is no good simply being passionate about a certain interest or even being an expert in that. Being interesting is as much about how you say something as what you have to say. For people to think you interesting, you need to communicate your passion and expertise to others around you in an engaging manner. One of the best ways you can do this is by telling stories since people connect better when you use stories. For instance if your passion is art, write stories about the piece you’re talking about or relate a little-known anecdote about the artist. Likewise your interest in a sport need not be a bland recital of statistics – you could tell a story about a legendary player of the sport or dig out a nugget of historical information on its evolution. This way nearly any topic can be made interesting through good storytelling and turn you into the center of attention. In general,  if you have to speak about something make an effort to edit out the dull bits; instead try to inject some humor and wit into what you have to say. Also every once in a while stir the waters of conventionality by coming up with an original remark or opinion. People who tamely follow majority views and opinions are rarely considered interesting personalities. However ensure that your stance is well-supported by facts since nothing fizzles out so quickly as an empty attempt at sensationalism nor makes a person appear so foolish. Likewise avoid personal attacks and nasty comments which will make you seem immature at best and reactionary at worst, instead of being genuinely interesting. Finally develop an instinct for the things people want to hear about. There's no point in saying something if the other person doesn't care about it. Instead keep in mind the kind of audience you have and tailor your conversation to what they'd prefer to hear about rather than what you wish to talk about.