CONFIDENCE
This is Why Looking Others in the Eye Changes Your Life
Be one of the few who do
You’re at an event and meet someone. You begin talking, and things seem to be going well. But then, her gaze begins to drift. She stops making eye contact with you and starts sweeping the room, apparently looking for someone more important or more interesting, as she halfheartedly continues the conversation.
How does this make you feel? I know that it made feel as if I had failed some social experiment. It’s one of the many reasons I grew weary of Tech networking events during my 23-year career in Silicon Valley. Someone would ask what you did, where you worked, and they obviously didn’t like the answer.
“Bzzzt! Wrong answer! I will no longer be making eye contact with you. I shall now scan the room looking for a more interesting person, and make some vague excuse to aid my escape.”
While much of our body language is involuntary during such interactions, we are self-aware, intelligent creatures. We know that certain behaviors indicate someone is interested in us or even finds us attractive. We also recognize other behaviors that signal when our conversational partner isn’t…
