With the newly announced interest rate hikes in South Africa, we at Genius Level decided to turn this ‘debit’ into a ‘credit’ by drawing some inspiration from the Reserve Bank’s decicion, using it to help you parallel their tactics and overly  increase your own personal ‘interest’ rates. That’s Genius Level right?

The biggest crave humans have is attention, now we can all have a never ending debate on this but since we all deep down know that a little attention given goes a long way, we’ll just leave it at that. The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important, this brings all the attention, worship, compliments and praise needed to fill up one’s ego. We’ve seen the desperate lengths people are willing to go to get this.

Luckily we at Genius Level have devised an easy to follow 10 step process, months of research went into finding out  how you can be genuinely interesting without trying too hard. The science of how to be interesting has long been a curiosity in the minds of those perusing it. Have you ever been in the company of strangers and witnessed someone win over the hearts, interest and attention of everyone around you and you sitting there wondering how the hell can’t I manage to do that? Or that guy in the club who end up filling up his phone with all the pretty women’s numbers, the way conversation comes so easy to him like it was effortless. What about your colleague in a meeting who always gets everyone to pay attention as he dazzles with his vocal cords leaving everyone impressed?

Having people skills is a definite must have especially in today’s world were you need to be socially and professionally impressive in order to close a business deal, bring an end to strenuous negotiations or if you simply just wanna get the girl you have long had a crush on.

1    To be interesting you need to be interested.

 

I had this amazing dog when I was growing up, it had fluffy white fur and a long nose with spread out ears, at night you would have easily mistaken it for a wolf. I called him “Fly” from the way it used to jump at me whenever it saw me, I swear the dog would hide away for a second so it would find a reason to miss me and again and again jump up at me. My mom used to get so mad at the stains I had from playing with the dog, but hey, she had Omo right?

Fly knew my timelines, up early in the morning it would pop up with enthusiasm and sadly watch me from the steel gate as I headed to school. Come 4 in the afternoon it rushed towards the main road and waited for me to arrive. I loved this dog like John loved Ted! And this was only an animal, how did it come that I had such interest and love for a K9? Well its simple, to be interesting you need to be interested! People love it when you show effort to get to know who they really are. Do you stop and give warm hugs or handshakes to friends or neighbours when you see them after a long while? Or do you just freeze with a facial expression that looks deprived of happiness?

Be like Fly and show interest in people and they will give it back, look at how the #followback twitter concept works, the only way to get followers is to sometimes #followback, and likewise to get retweets or mentions you have to retweet others and mention them in your tweets. We can even put on our nerd glasses and break it down intellectually, “For every action exerted, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. So for every little thing that you do to show interest in others, they instantaneously take note of it and with equal or even greater “exerted” effort, they will show the interest back.

Fly might have passed on, but he taught me one valuable lesson I will hold with me always, make people feel special and the favour will definitely be returned, the late Maya Angelou did say that “People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Be that gold rainbow light of positivity whose energy is contagious for all to absorb and give back in greater quantities.

2    Encourage the other person to speak about themselves

There is no denying that people love talking about themselves, they crave for the moment when one asks them about what they are doing for the weekend, how was the trip? Simple conversation openers like: how was your day? “You must be tired, you work so hard”. Those are so so easy things to ask, but in the world today they could well make you the most sort after person of all the 45 million South Africans.

I hear people talk about, “dude I just froze when I saw her! I did not know what to say”. Okay I admit I’ve been one of those who’d shut down given a conversation with a girl I really really liked. But it’s all so easy to start off conversation with the knowledge in mind that people always enjoy talking about themselves, take advantage of this escape route and see what wonders it does for you.

One who leaves your company pleased with themselves is equally pleased with you. What this does it, it creates a never ending cycle of return visits if I may put it, before you know it you will be considered interesting all from making people speak about themselves.

3    Diversify your personality and Learn more

Personally I find rigid people boring, why should I have to make effort to entertain your areas of interest while you show no interest in mine? That’s how people end up alone. There are so many things you could do to diversify your persona, read a book, go onto Genius Level, download “100 amazing facts about the world”, watch a movie, watch a series, listen to audiobooks, just randomly decide to hang out with different people and most importantly be crazy and be yourself.

I instantaneously fell in ‘like’ with one lady who was shuffling around with my laptop playing music, out of nowhere she  played “a drop in the ocean” by Ron Pope, given that one good turn deserves another she went on to play “Spent some time” by Eminem!!!! I know right?? Automatically my head just turned and I stared at her with shock, “They still make you??”.

Be a flexible person, listen to different types of music and most importantly read! This will make you thee most knowledgeable, fun and interesting person to hang around. You know the type to jump into a conversation with nerds taking about science projects, the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle and after that go on to blend in with the Company Directors on some “the margins are looking good”.

Have the curiosity to learn more, to be more you need to become more.

 4    Genuinely be thankful, appreciative, compliment and say thank you

Underestimate not the power of a genuine “thank you”. People sometimes do things with the intention of getting appreciation out of them, imagine the heartbreak when your girlfriend makes you a meal she has been taking cooking lessons on and you just there eating half the plate and not complementing the food or thanking her for her efforts at least.

People generally like being around others who make them feel good about themselves. Next time you eat out at a nice restaurant and you love the food, ask the waiter to compliment the chef for his amazing skills. Genuine appreciation and compliments have the power to make one’s day and the greatest benefit with this is that when you make people feel good about themselves, they will definitely go out of their way to return the favour.

5    Greet people by name

I remember I was hopeless, totally a lost soul when it came to remembering people’s names. That was my downfall with everything, ever just walked the opposite direction when someone you met some days ago is walking your way, all because you forgot their name. People feel appreciated and important when you remember and greet them by name. It shows that you are genuinely interested in them, and like the first step says “to be interesting you have to be interested”. That was one of Tata Mandela’s secrets of how he managed to get along and be loved by everyone! everyone? yes even the prison warders loved him during his time in jail; I remember watching a short clip of him in a meeting with a very important individual in his office, I remember seeing the kitchen staff come in with food for them. He was still president then, what he did next was an act of a beautiful, appreciative and thankful soul. He got up quickly, greeted all three ladies by name, kindly walked over to the table where they were placing the food and complimented them for their amazing cooking skills, he then proceeded to introduce the kitchen staff by name to the guest he had in his presidential office. Heartwarming to say the least. And you wonder why he is regarded as the greatest man to have ever lived?

Everyone loves the sound of their own name, toppled up with the right pronunciation it’s like music to one’s ears, be the kind of person who knows everyone’s name and see how much of an appreciation and interest you will get from it. I have managed to overcome the disability of not remembering people’s names, how? Well I genuinely showed interest and started listening.

The first thing to do when someone tells you their name is to say “oh really GOOD to meet you Kagiso” and maybe go off again with a little something like “how are you doing today Kagiso”, that will imprint the name into your mind, also you can try associating the name with something or a word it rhymes with or another person you know who has the same name, how the brain works is that the next time you see them, the initial friend of yours’ name will pop up and BOOM! You have won over a new soul. If all fails, do what I did when I started a new Job and had to memorize all my over 100 new colleague’s names, I wrote it down, just write it down and also list right next to the name a distinct feature the person has; I know it sounds a little too farfetched but the required outcome from that will definitely be worth the ink and effort.

6    Workout

Had a really funny yet interesting conversation with an old colleague of mine today, he is the guy who most probably has had the most influence in me falling in love with gym, I can afford to take my shirt off at the beach now so its friends like this that you need to have around. He was telling me of the Melrose Arc Virgin Active that he went to last week. He talked about how you get free fruits and most importantly all woman there come in one size, perfect! Next time I’m in Johannesburg I’m definitely visiting that gym.

Anyway, the truth is when you start working out, taking jogs and eating the right food, people will most definitely be watching, what they will see is a guy/girl who takes care of themselves, is driven, hardworking and disciplined; people love that and would drop kick a sugar daddy with a sports car just to get to hang with you. But most importantly is that when you work out you feel great, you love yourself even more and that automatically shows in your personality, all hyped up, blood flowing to the right areas with ease, confidence just buck and swagger swaying like you were a runway model.

To add to that it’s a great way to network with people who share the same interests as you, you might even meet your company’s CEO or Director there, and before you know it you on a first name basis. Not forgetting the beautiful and handsome fit boys and girls you’ll definitely meet in there.

7    Listen

People lose out on great conversations and interactions all due to not lending an ear to the person who’s talking, we all are just always ready loading our artillery with never ending bullets of responses to a point where we always miss the profound points made by the other person. Conversation shrinks and fails to add the value it was supposed to.

Too many of us fail to connect with others all because we don’t listen. We ought to all try practice active listening where you make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that the other person is saying but, more importantly the message being sent. What this does is it allows your brain to take in and process what’s being said, with that you able to give off more well thought and well-tailored smart responses.

People will love you for being an A+ listener, so much so they will want to be in your company 24/7. How do you go about mastering this well sort after skill? Well, just listen. and do continue reading………..

8    Interact with Genius individuals

Don’t be that guy who’s always looking to be the chatterbox in the group because you think you know everything, if you are within a group of friends and you are regarded as the smartest, you need to be worried, life should be about evolving and seeing just how far you can take it (Genius Level Stratosphere).

Interact with people you admire and see if you can’t learn a thing or two, and hey, you will make awesome friends in the process, and remember that people find interested people interesting.

9    Be yourself

There is no other role you can play better, you are at your very best when you play yourself and no one can do it better. Believe it or not people can see right through the made up personality that’s not of your own making, that will make you a joke. You have been rehearsing this role all your life! own up to it.

Lights!! Camera!! Action!!

Be yourself and watch the learning curve in your attitude and personality trait attract people to you. Also refer to this amazing article for more on being yourself (The Fame Monster)

10    Get a Hypeman

 

Your Hypeman should tell you that you already interesting, that’s how powerful he/she is. Your Hypeman is your best friend. This Genius Level Magazine also serves as a Hypeman. (Read more on getting a Genius Level Hypeman)

11    Visit Genius Level and refer your friends to this amazing site

Because we can, we just had to add in an eleventh step to help you in becoming the interesting person you have always wanted to become.

I mean where else would you have been reminded of these Genius steps to take to become more interesting? Grow with us as we grow with you and simultaneously learn how to attain these thought of to be divine gift we call  Genius Level. Easy on yourself, you already interesting, but like the Reserve Bank, given the dynamic and complex economic market conditions we simulating to our social environment, you have to always keep upping your ‘interest’ right?

 

Article by Kagiso Maloma

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