Self Esteem

Being more extroverted doesn't mean that you have to bounce around the room like Tigger all the time. But it does mean that you need to be more interactive than, say, a Greek statue. If the idea of being more extroverted fills you with dread then it may be time to confront your fear. Whilst this may not turn it into a totally fun activity (although you never know!), it can help to change things round from being filled with fear and dread into at least being neutral about a situation where if you're not at least vaguely extroverted you could just as well be part of the scenery.

Practice small

Unless you're on too much alcohol or something illegal, chances are that you won't make the leap from the world's number one introvert into the life and soul of the party in one step.

It's far better to build up your confidence gradually and learn how to become more extroverted in a series of gentle stages.

Unless you're a complete fan of talking to yourself, this does mean interacting with at least one other person.

So pick a non-threatening situation for your first few practices. Maybe somewhere you don't go regularly so the likelihood of ever bumping into whoever you're practicing on again in this lifetime is close to zero. Shops and public transport are good playgrounds for this.

Then decide what you're going to do.

For some people, being more extrovert in these situations means actually speaking out loud rather than making grunts at best. In which case practice your sentence (or even handful of words) over in your head enough times that you can say it without hesitation.

You may not manage to be word perfect the first few times but gradually you'll get better and be able to step this game up a notch.

Practice often

If you don't practice being an extrovert regularly - where regularly is defined as a lot more often than a blue moon - then you'll forget even the few things you've learned.

The ideal is several times a day but if you start quivering and shaking at the thought of that, once a day or even a handful of times a week is better than your current zero.

So make it your resolution that you will be more extroverted at least once a day, come hell or high water.

Be happy, even if you get it wrong

Unless you completely blunder through your practice, there's a better than even chance that the person you're practicing your new extroversion skills on won't even notice.

Deep down, they'll be worrying about their own insecurities and will be concentrating more on what they're going to say next than how you're doing.

Which actually is the real secret of becoming more extroverted: realizing that the rest of the world actually couldn't give a hoot about you most of the time. Once you do this reality check you'll come round to the way of thinking that the best approach is to enjoy yourself for once, which includes being at least a bit more extroverted than you currently are.

Get help to be more extroverted and find out how you can become more outgoing with these easy to use ideas.

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