Tweaks

Here are some tweaks I am thinking about making to the practice moving forward:

Conversations

I want to have more unique conversations with people. Most interactions involve the participant asking why I do this, and I give the same-ish answer every time. And the conversations I have with people usually cover topics that branch off from my explanation of why I do this. Both of these these facts are to be expected. However, there are two aspects of these conversations I'd like to change:

  1. To have the answer for "why do you do this?" be more clearly articulated. I'll probably write a Why? post in which I polish up that response.
  2. To do a better job of engaging participants. I want to take more an authentic interest in them and learn about them. This feels like small talk practice, but I want it to be different because I want to actively engage with the other person, to be excited to have the conversation instead of seeing it as an annoying drag. I think asking them questions (that I actually care to hear the answers to) is the way to do this. Questions like:
    1. Why did you agree to do this?
    2. Have you ever done anything like this before?
    3. What is your experience making eye contact with people? Do you do it often? Do you enjoy it?
    4. How did this experience make you feel?

Settings

I want to push myself to approach people in more unusual interaction scenarios, where I suspect the likelihood of rejection is higher.

My to-do list includes:

  • bus
  • bus stop
  • table of 2 at a bar
  • table of 3 at a bar
  • table of 4 at a bar
  • people in my office (never introduced, and already introduced)
  • street corner (while waiting to cross street)
  • someone who's in the middle of walking somewhere
  • someone waiting outside of restaurant to be seated
  • someone hanging out in Little Tokyo plaza
  • house party
  • grocery store shopper
  • motorcycle shop customer