How to Tell if You’re Boring

Take the Test

At a recent networking event I found myself talking to a man who didn’t want to talk to me.

I knew this, not because I am a psychologist, but because he wasn’t subtle about it. He kept glancing over my shoulder, didn’t ask me a single question, gave me a tired, pre-rehearsed summary of his business and said “wow” to something I said that — sadly — had no wow factor at all.

Then he fake-spotted someone on the far side of the room, yelled “lovely to meet you” at me and was gone, ending an exchange I am fairly sure was the antithesis of lovely to him.

So there I was, alone with my drink, forced to confront the true meaning of this rejection: am I boring?

It’s not me, it’s him, I thought defensively. I can’t add anything to that guy’s business so he wasn’t interested in trying. But my self-talk didn’t work. As a devotee of the saying “if you are bored, then you’re probably being boring,” it was time for some deep analysis.

In a stack of old notes at home, I found this simple test:

Are You Boring?

Do you: (answer yes or no):

• Interrupt, talk over people, have to finish your sentence at all costs — you might be entertaining but this style brands you as…