Mastering the Art of Influencing People

Hello everyone,

I accidentally came across this free course of 1.5 hours on "7 Scientifically Proven Steps to Increase Your Influence" at Udemy and found this to be really amazing!!

Key take aways for me from this course are as below:

1. Always have killer conversation starters
• Turn people on with interesting topics to get the dopamine flowing in them so that they start liking your presence.
• Make people talk about themselves and be genuinely interested in what they talk
• make them feel valued
• add your opinion with open ended statements using "Yes, and...." or "No, but...."
2. Use high power body language
• High power body language is the one where you kind of expand and occupy space confirming your territory
• Avoid contracting your body in any way.
• Keep shoulders at the back, head up, body relaxed, chest out, etc.. 
3. Use stories from your own story toolbox
• end your story with a thought provoking question to get people talking on the same line.
• avoid complaining/ criticizing/ gossipy stories to avoid getting remembered for the same.
4. Embrace your weirdness and imperfection
• Be vulnerable to allow people to associate themselves with you
• This makes them realise you are human too and establish an empathetic connection.
5. Ask for favor and advice.
• This often ends up developing a bond or a friendship.
6. Mood is contagious.
• Charisma is spread non-verbally (Tilt, torso, toes).
• Tilt your head slightly, keep the torse and toes facing the audience to show that you are really listening and engaged in.
• Think of 5 things that you are grateful for in your life right now.
7. Color psychology
• Various colors vis-a-vis mood is explained in this.
• Color cheat sheet is also provided that you can take print out of and stick on to your wardrobe so that you can decide the color of your attire appropriate to the occasion.
8. Exit gracefully from the conversation.
• Always start with non-verbal clues
• Use verbal notes like 'Thank you, I would stay in touch through LinkedIn./ Facebook/ whatsoever", etc...

Reviews/ Thoughts on this course:

• The way the course is presented is so charismatic and it draws you into it.
• Very useful resource for self-improvement and personality development.
• You also get a Certificate upon completion and you can share this certificate in LinkedIn or Twitter.👍
• Thanks to the course instructor (Vanessa Van Edwards) who is so adept at what she does. :) :) She gives examples for each of the principles. She even shares ideas on how you can use her scripts in case if you run out of thoughts on your own. Truly inspiring, isn't it? 😊
• Visual representations used in each of the topics enhances the learning experience.

I recommend everyone to enroll and take this up. 👍