Raise your hand if you like people watching. I love people watching. I can’t see you but you’d probably be raising your hand if I were there. Most people I meet like people watching.
Recently, I was at the Grove, a coffee shop in SF. While I was in line I checked out a young, tattooed woman working behind the counter.
She laughed full heartedly with a couple of the other employees. It was intriguing watching her glide throughout the coffee shop and I was really curious about her life. I was happy to see her get in front of the register when it was my turn to order. We spoke, laughed, connected, and exchanged numbers. We now hang out. She keeps me curious.
How do I motivate myself to socialize?
Being curious about others is a hell of a motivator to meet new people.
I used to play a game with people, from old friends to first dates. We would create stories about the people in the environment and guess what their life was like. Sometimes we would go up and talk to them to try to confirm. At first I found myself way off the mark, but I later got a bit more consistently close to the truth. You should try this.
The top things I’ve always been most curious about are: people, romance, travel, history, finance, and music. People are by far the biggest one. How the hell did he or she do it? How did Marilyn Monroe seduce the world? How did Elon Musk reinvigorate space and energy? How the hell did that guy get “Gangnam Style” to reach the top of the charts?! There is a story behind it all.
The answer usually has something to do with persistence, preparation (skills), and luck.
It all starts with curiosity though. Write down a list of the things you’re most curious about. How can you welcome more of those things into your life this summer?
