- Alex & Books Newsletter
- Posts
- š Introvert's Guide to Being Social, 3 Awesome Books, Heal Your Tendons, and more.
š Introvert's Guide to Being Social, 3 Awesome Books, Heal Your Tendons, and more.
A&B #243
š Hey everyone,
If youāre looking for a great book + summary, here are 3 you may have missed:
And congrats to Aleia F. for winning the 50-book giveaway and to Chris H. for winning the signed copy of āInner Excellenceā (Iāve emailed you both).
Stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon!
Is your social strategy ready for what's next in 2025?
HubSpot Media's latest Social Playbook reveals what's actually working for over 1,000 global marketing leaders across TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.
Inside this comprehensive report, youāll discover:
Which platforms are delivering the highest ROI in 2025
Content formats driving the most engagement across industries
How AI is transforming social content creation and analytics
Tactical recommendations you can implement immediately
Unlock the playbookāfree when you subscribe to the Masters in Marketing newsletter.
Get cutting-edge insights, twice a week, from the marketing leaders shaping the future.
āļø 3 Life Lessons:
Instead of a book summary this week, Iām sharing 3 lessons that can help you become more social and build better relationships.
1) Become A āYes Manā For 7 Days
In the hilarious 2008 film āYes Manā, actor Jim Carrey plays a man who is forced to say yes to everything.
I wonāt spoil the film (itās worth watching), but the summary is that by saying yes to every question that comes his way, heās able to live a more exciting, meaningful, and happier life.
So for the next 7 days, make it a rule that you have to say āYesā to any social or networking opportunity that comes your way:
A friend asks if you want to hang out on a Tuesday?
Coworker asks if you want to grab lunch tomorrow?
LinkedIn message from a young kid asks for a virtual coffee?
Say āYesā to all.
You canāt expect new opportunities to come your way if you keep the door to your life closed.
The beauty of this is that it only takes 1 connection to make it all worth it.
A few weeks ago, I was dreading going to a big conference because the idea of being surrounded by hundreds of strangers made my social anxiety skyrocket.
From the minute I got to the conference, I felt overwhelmed and anxious. Even though I was only wearing a t-shirt, I was sweating like I had just left the gym.
I stayed for a few of the talks, but about halfway through the conference, I was feeling drained and was on the verge of heading home.
However, I made a deal with myself that before I left, I had to meet at least one more person.
A few minutes later, I took a seat in the auditorium and waited for the next speaker to come on stage.
Someone took a seat right next to me, so I figured it was a good time to break the ice and meet someone new.
To my surprise, it was a bestselling author who had sold over 1 million books (true story)!
We then spent the next few minutes chatting about books and later exchanged numbers. We just made plans to grab dinner next month
One event can lead you to meeting a new best friend, a romantic partner, or a professional connection that can change the trajectory of your business.
You never know what amazing opportunities will come from saying āYes.ā
š
2) Pre-Plan Your Conversations
This strategy is going to sound a bit crazy, but stick with me for a minute.
Before going to an event, you can usually see whoās coming by scanning the invite list on the event page or on the welcome email.
Hereās what you do next:
Do a quick Google search of every person attending the event.
Make a list of the most interesting people or people youād like to connect with.
Spend a few minutes looking at their LinkedIn or social media to see what current projects theyāre working on or activities theyāre interested in.
Come up with 2-3 questions for each person so that if you bump into them at the event, youāll be able to have a great conversation with them.
This way, youāll be able to have an intelligent and interesting conversation instead of making small talk or fumbling over your words.
This is a wonderful strategy for building business relationships, but it also works well for romantic relationships.
Back when I was single, after every date, Iād spend 5-10 minutes writing down everything I learned about the person and a few questions to get to know them better.
Then a week later, Iād review the notes a few minutes before our next date so that I could prepare for the date and minimize the chances of there being an awkward silence during our date.
It may seem weird, but Iāve now been with my girlfriend for 4+ years, so Iāll let you be the judge of that.
š
3) Bring a āChrisā to Your Next Event
If you arenāt extroverted, do the second-best thing: Bring an extroverted friend to the event.
Most events allow you to bring a plus one, but instead of bringing your partner or your introverted best friend, you want to bring a Chris.
My friend Chris might be the most extroverted person I know.
Iāve seen him make new friends within several minutes of landing in a country heās never been in before. Heās blessed with the gift of gab, and itās amazing to watch him connect with total strangers.
So when I got invited to a content creator event where I didnāt know anyone and couldnāt see the attendee list, I brought him with me.
Within five minutes of arriving at the event, Chris made friends with two guys. Ten minutes later, he had made friends with three more people.
Throughout the event, he went up to people, broke the ice with them, and managed the conversation so that I was included and the conversation flowed smoothly.
Interestingly, Iāve seen several other introverts use this exact strategy.
Recently, at a book launch party, I talked with an author who came with a woman.
At first, I thought the woman was his wife. But he soon clarified that she was a friend from his gym, and that he brought her because she worked in sales and could talk with anyone.
And sure enough, for the next hour, I saw her go from one person to the next, starting conversations with at least 10 different people.
You get to meet new people, and so does your extroverted friend. Itās a win-win for both sides.
So the next time you get invited to an event, consider bringing a Chris to join you.
ā Actionable Advice:
1) For the next 7 days, say āYesā to every connection and networking opportunity that comes your way.
2) Pre-plan your conversations: Make a list of the people you want to connect with at the event and prepare 2-3 questions for each person.
3) The next time you get invited to an event, bring your extroverted friend who can help you start conversations and meet new people.
š Weekly Gem:
This was a fascinating podcast with Dr. Baar, who has spent 20+ years researching ways to prevent injuries, accelerate recovery, and improve performance.
If you suffer from any nagging injuries, are recovering from surgery on your ankle, knee, shoulder, etc., or want to decrease the chances of seriously injuring yourself while playing a sport, you need to listen to this podcast.
The TL;DR is that doing simple isometric exercises like these will strengthen your tendons and ligaments and help you recover/prevent injuries.
Your opinion matters!
Please let me know what you think so I can create better emails for you.
What did you think of this week's newsletter? |
Thank you for your support,
Alex W.
Reply