The Social Skills Guidebook

Manage Shyness, Improve Your Conversations, and Make Friends, Without Giving Up Who You Are

By: Chris MacLeod MSW

Narrated by: Chris Abell

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

You think your social life could be better. You've felt shy as long as you can remember. Your conversations have more awkward moments than you'd like. Maybe you don't need a ton of friends, but you'd like to have some people to hang out with on occasion. You want to make changes, but you don't know where to start. Lots of people have been in your shoes, so you're hardly a lost cause, and it's never too late to turn things around. The Social Skills Guidebook gives you insights into your interpersonal struggles and behaviors, and offers hands-on advice for developing and improving your people skills.

The Social Skills Guidebook goes into detail about solving the three core areas that hold people back socially: 

1. Mental barriers including shyness, social anxiety, and low self-confidence 
2. Less developed conversation skills 
3. A lack of friends and an unsatisfying social life 

If you look at the people who are socially comfortable in your school or workplace and want what they have, know that you can achieve social success like theirs without losing yourself in the process. You can remain true to your personality and pursue your favorite interests while conquering the attitudes that hold you back, improving your conversation skills, and learning how to make friends. With practice, time, and patience, you can create the kind of social life you want for yourself.

The Social Skills Guidebook covers topics including: 

• Changing counterproductive thinking that stands in the way of your social confidence 
• Becoming comfortable with your social fears by facing them in a manageable way 
• Navigating the different parts of a conversation 
• Interacting in one-on-one and group discussions 
• Learning how to listen to others and respond appropriately 
• Identifying people's nonverbal cues and being aware of your own 
• Finding potential friends and making plans with them 
• Deepening your friendships 
• Improving your social skills if you have Asperger's Syndrome

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016, 2018 Chris MacLeod (P)2018 Chris MacLeod

A lot of good, sensible information.

There is no book written which will allow someone with absolutely poor social skills turn into a social butterfly in one night. Some oversimplify the issue and promise to accomplish the aforementioned goal with a few quick tips. Others are so abstract that - while interesting in some cases - they contain no applicable information. This one falls somewhere in between.

First, there is a LOT of information. Trying to absorb it all in one read (listen) proved to be overwhelming, so I think it works best in book form and with frequent revisiting of chapters. The book addresses a lot of areas but with a limited amount of depth. The author acknowledges and often makes reference to other works going deeper into a subject. The book makes no promises of making one an overnight social sensation, and stresses the importance of practice and hard work to improved.

This book can be - in my opinion - best looked at as a framework for forward progress in ones' social development. It contains all of the basics in every social area - verbal and non-verbal communication, overcoming shyness, overcoming rejections, changing ones' attitude towards past social perceived failures and rejection (my favorite parts of the book actually). It is a good starting point for an exploration of improving ones social skills.

If you are reading this....

Please get the book. It’s mind blowing!!
Things that you never knew, he will tell u about it!

Simple. Straight. And to the point!

I love how simple and clear this book is! It breaks all the simple but the not so simple steps down that are required to make new friends! he makes everything clear as day and simple to apply!

Repeating "you can do it"

Summary:: "you can do it, you can do it, you can do it". The end.

A little insulted but very helpful.

This may not apply to everyone but there was one chapter that just named off poor characteristics for conversations and I am guilty of most of them. I have a lot of work to to but starting conversations with people has become much easier.

A bit negative, but some good info

The author is a bit negative and projects on the reader that they’re shy and lonely and feel bad about themselves. It made it a little difficult to listen to, because I don’t identify with this. I feel anxious and avoidant, but I still act charismatic and outgoing. It’s just very uncomfortable for me, unless I’m with people I actually want to be with.

Great Hands in Notes

Wonderful report on how to improve social skills book. This is necessary book for anymore who is shy, socially awkward, wanting to socialize but feeling unable too, etc. I recommend everyone regardless read this book.

good

i wish chapter headings were more obvious.
otherwise lots of good information. i recommend it.

Very helpful and very thankful

I am very thankful for all the information given in this audiobook it had changed my social life and made me more confident. For me being social is a challenge, everything feels pre-calculated and it just doesn’t feel natural. Its stills feels like that but this audiobook had given me so many advices on how to improve my social life that even though I am scared, i am more than willing minded into putting all my fears aside to put everything in this audiobook into practice since its very important to me to let the people that I love to know that I am trying my hardest to be a better friend, a better family member, a better co-worker bc I honestly care more than what they think, I just don’t know how to socialize and show.
I show that I love them and care about them but by letters (bc I can express my self better in them) and by gifts but can’t seem to be able to show it more verbally and by socializing, etc. So, Again this author had given me hope and I want the author to know that It was very helpful and that I am very thankful for all the efforts put into this book.

great tricks to apply on social situation,

worth to read for so many times, provides insight on how to deal social situation very well

I understood so much

although I'm usually good at meeting and talking to peolple always had problems keeping interactions going after the fact such as trading contact information. since everyone at uni is so connected already I didn't know what I should do but this answered all of my questions