I have always considered myself an old soul. I love surrounding myself with people with stories to tell. I find so much inspiration and fascination with life experiences because everyone has a story, and there are billions of people in the world (not to mention, those who have lived before us). It’s mind-blowing to me how so many stories are left untold!
Of course, if you don’t have the life experience to have stories to share in order to be an incredibly interesting person, it’s never too late to start! You can consider being interesting a “skill” that you can develop with dedicated practice and intention.
Here are 10 ways you can become an incredibly interesting person:
- Love Learning & Stay Curious
- Be Open-Minded
- Be Open to Uncomfortable Experiences
- Nurture Interests & Hobbies
- Be Emotionally Intelligent
- Meditate Often
- Ask Good Questions
- Spend Time with Interesting People
- Hold Yourself to High Standards
Love Learning & Stay Curious
Never stop learning so you will always have something to talk about. Learn to deepen and broaden your perspectives. How? STOP SCROLLING… and actually read (not skim) books and blogs, listen to podcasts, learn a new skill, write as much as you can, travel and actually immerse yourself into cultures, and talk to locals.
Even reading fiction will open you up to new worlds and ideas, and make you a more empathetic and interesting person. People who read more fiction were better at empathy and understanding others.
I grew up obsessed with science fiction, and epic fantasy series. You should see my collection of books in my storage! I always had an adventurous soul, loved story-telling, and craved experiences. When I was even younger, my parents gave us a few encyclopedias, and I cherished them. I was also obsessed with science books, particularly about space exploration and the mysteries of the universe. These days when I buy gifts, I always buy books, journals, and things that encourage learning and soul-work. You can’t lose by reading and writing as much as you can!
2. Be Open-Minded
Being open-minded will let you be more receptive to different perspectives. Interesting people are constantly exposed to new and interesting ideas you haven’t thought of before, creating new neural pathways. Interesting people are open to complex worlds with multiple interpretations.
3. Being Open to Uncomfortable Experiences
Nothing good ever comes out of comfort zones. Getting uncomfortable will set you on a path to doing new things, gathering new experiences, learning new things, and thus, having a plethora of interesting stories to tell! The most interesting people have an overabundance of experiences and stories to tell!
Live a colourful life so that you can write a book that people would actually want to read!
4. Nurture Interests & Hobbies
Nurture interests & hobbies that have nothing to do with your career …but find things you are actually passionate about. You can’t expect to do the same thing over and over and expect the same results. Interesting people are constantly sourcing new information, philosophies, and things to do beyond their scope. If you aren’t constantly trying new things, you will have nothing new to talk about.
When interesting people talk about things they are interested in, you can hear and feel the passion in their voice. Their energy changes, and we all know that energy is contagious.
5. Be Emotionally Intelligent
Interesting people are intentional in truly wanting to understand someone, and showing compassion. They observe keenly and have superb listening skills. People will open up to you because everyone has an interesting story. Your job is to “listen with imagination.”
As Dale Carnegie said in his well known book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, “you can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
6. Be Confident and Have Opinions
Boring people usually have no perspectives or opinions because you simply can’t have a conversation with them. It starts with confidence– and practice! Don’t be afraid of looking stupid because you are your own worst critic. Interesting people always have something to say because they usually come with the experience to back up their opinions, and are always open to thought challenges. Instead of reacting negatively to disagreements, they will always be open to debate.
Say what’s on your mind! Who cares if people don’t agree.
7. Meditate Often
Meditate, be present, and make time to relax your mind. The best ideas often arise when your mind is at rest, in flow state, because your brain has time to “connect the dots.” It can’t do this when we are constantly stressed, anxious, and worrying about the past or future.
8. Ask Good Questions
The quality of your life depends on the quality of the questions you ask.
If someone is giving you the privilege of listening to their fascinating life story, don’t be afraid to ask them more (how / what / why / when)! People love sharing their experiences and you will also give them a sense of fulfillment by simply being interested.
9. Spend Time with Interesting People
You don’t have to agree with them but you should ALWAYS be open to perspectives. If you are in the company of boring and shallow people with black and white opinions, you are very likely to become one very soon.
10. Hold Yourself to High Standards
Lazy people only do the minimum to get by. High functional people make an effort to go above and beyond. This includes committing and following through, being disciplined with habits, and NOT being lazy. People with high standards tend to get things done, attract like-minded people, have better opportunities, meet more interesting people, thus will have more interesting stories to tell!
Remember, “interesting” is subjective. What one person finds interesting may not be interesting to someone else so you still have to find your ‘people.” But then truly interesting people are always open and curious about learning new things, so that could be another way to find an interesting person!
