My summers are full of human connection, a variety of personalities and many, different names. I
Now, I don’t do this all of the time, because it was defeat the purpose and beauty of spontaneity. But sometimes I do. When I’m meeting people for the first time and want to make a good impression or maybe I’m going on a date – I find it’s important to mentally prep yourself.
You know you are going to be asked questions like, “What’s new?” So I find it super helpful to ask myself that question before I enter that social situation. What have I been up to lately? What books have I been reading? What interesting thoughts or ideas have I been having? What’s something interesting that’s happened in my world recently. I answer and let these thoughts stew in my brain on my way to the interaction.
Another important exercise is to think about the other person/people and quality questions you can ask them because the quality of our lives depends on the quality of our questions. Mentally prepare yourself with these questions the same way. Some quality questions could be:
(1) Any new goals you’ve been working on? Any summer plans you are excited for?
I find this helps keep you sharp and gets the ball rolling and spontaneity can take its course the rest of the way.