Basic Social Skills Guide

125 sogen 62 8/11/2025, 5:19:01 AM improveyoursocialskills.com ↗

Comments (62)

SunlightEdge · 11m ago
For those who think they are decent at socializing, one book that may extend your skill further is ' Never split the difference'. Its a book about negotiating, but I think it does teach some key skills. Mirroring for example where you literally repeat back the last few words a person has said, I've found unexpectedly super useful - it almost allows people to expand on what they are saying and helps them go deeper into things. Basically the book (and other tools) has helped me become a better listener (I have always been decent at the talking side). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-...

Note: I only 'mirror' 2-3 times in a conversation. I've found over using it makes it have less impact. But that's just me.

nicbou · 1h ago
The best guide I have ever seen is https://succeedsocially.com/

It’s so unbelievably straightforward and useful. It’s unfortunate that I discovered it after learning everything the hard way.

PandaRider · 31m ago
It's not bad. Maybe 7/10.

I read the page https://www.succeedsocially.com/morefun. Here's my initial impressions. Pros: it identified several important painpoints and give several decent examples. Cons: Being a truly fun person is all about reaction reaction reaction. Fun people react authentically (while censoring their ahole side because you don't want to be fun but unlikable), ridiculously (while reading the room), and intelligently (playing to the top of the crowd's intelligence).

SunlightEdge · 8m ago
Great comment - it feels very true
strken · 2h ago
On the topic of "support your friends", if there's a funeral for someone you weren't super close with but your friend knew well and you're not sure whether to go, I would recommend just going, sitting up the back, offering your condolences if the opportunity comes up, and leaving.

I've failed to do this twice. Nobody else said or did anything, but I regretted it.

zwnow · 2h ago
It's also ok not to attend funerals at all, even if you were close. I broke down every funeral I went to and would rather avoid that in the future.
d332 · 1h ago
Sorry to hear that. How did you break them down?
chaosite · 55m ago
I read that as the author, going to the funeral, broke down. That is they felt devastated emotionally, internally and possibly externally as in "broke down crying".

The funeral itself probably continued without any issues. I guess that's another social skills lesson, the world carries on regardless of your emotions.

eastbound · 46m ago
“Break down” means to cry.
atoav · 9m ago
[delayed]
RataNova · 1h ago
In those moments it's rarely about you having the "right" words
TrackerFF · 2h ago
I've found that no mater what country I've been to, or what social classes the people belong to, three topics have a 95% success rate when it comes to social relations with guys: sports, cars, fishing/hunting. And to some degree handywork.

It is a bit unfortunate, as I'm not at all interested in talking about those things - but they are such staple topics, that you can come off as a sort of outcast if you can't keep a short convo on those things.

Another observation has been that some topics are very polarized. In some countries you can talk pretty freely about politics, while in other places it is a faux pas.

But then again, part of finding out what the other party likes talking about is a skill in itself.

yoz-y · 1h ago
While I’ve yet to meet somebody into fishing or hunting, I agree about cars and sports. Unfortunately since I have interest in neither it can be hard to fit in sometime.

Weirdly, as somebody non interested in these common topics it also feels like it’s up to you to figure out a topic of common interest and it really isn’t.

About sports also, most people super “into” sports don’t do any. Which is ironic because a conversation about technique is something I’ll gladly have.

matwood · 2m ago
You don't need to know much about sports. If you can just keep up with what's in season that's typically enough. Who do you think will go to the super bowl? Have you done a final four bracket? are great questions as long as it's the right time of year.
weinzierl · 1h ago
If only someone could create an app or website to help us uninformed out with common phrases to use. Sentences like:

"Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"

Plankaluel · 48m ago
The thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.
arethuza · 30m ago
"Going/been anywhere nice recently" is a pretty good one in the UK - most people have some kind of holiday and I don't follow football and my interest in cars is probably limited to my occasional bouts of incandescent rage at people not signalling correctly on roundabouts...
sundarurfriend · 45m ago
> I've found that no mater what country I've been to, or what social classes the people belong to, three topics have a 95% success rate when it comes to social relations with guys: sports, cars, fishing/hunting. And to some degree handywork.

Have you generally been to the Americas and Western Europe? Sports is the one universal, that makes sense in my experience too. But most people outside the rich upper class don't give a hoot about cars anywhere in the parts of Asia I've been to. And if you talked about fishing/hunting, you'd probably get weird looks trying to decide if you came from some modern hunter-gatherer cult.

RataNova · 1h ago
Yeah, it's kind of the social equivalent of knowing a few phrases in another language
RataNova · 1h ago
A lot of "social skills" content drifts into pickup-artist-y territory, so it's refreshing when something frames it around comfort, support, and actual connection instead of just "winning" interactions
rickandmorty99 · 1h ago
> instead of just "winning" interactions

Mainstream pickup artists yea. Some niche ones, not really. Wayne Elise feels like a good example, from back in the day.

On a throwaway because the judgmental people will judge me for the rest of my life due to me nuancing that not all people associated to pickup artists looked at social interactions in a zero sum way.

TheCapeGreek · 24m ago
Agreed, it feels risky to just be associated these days, even if it's "adjacent" groups that explicitly don't want to be part of the "mechanical" side of improving social skills like "classical" PUA.

But, no way to change that in public perception without taking risks and being open about it.

So, if you're an HN reader, not wanting to be branded as a PUA but still want to find help socially (especially romantically), my two cents is look into the Ars Amorata community.

schoen · 16m ago
The founder seems to have missed the opportunity to make a classical reference to Ovid's writing on love, instead constructing some ungrammatical Latin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Amatoria

rickandmorty99 · 17m ago
> But, no way to change that in public perception without taking risks and being open about it.

Yea, I can't take it. I've fixed my dating life but I'm not a charismatic leader by any stretch of the imagination. I've taken multiple stabs in Reddit threads but there is just no good faith discussion to be had. I've also tried it a bit on HN. On HN it's also very dicey.

> So, if you're an HN reader, not wanting to be branded as a PUA but still want to find help socially (especially romantically), my two cents is look into the Ars Amorata community.

Interesting, will check it out. I don't need help by the way. I'm married. And for social skills that I'm still lacking, I know where to go. Unfortunately, not all social skills in dating transfer well to work social skills.

Edit: just checked it out. Good to see Zan is still doing his thing. I remember him "I love women". He definitely influenced me with that quote back in the day.

Fraterkes · 13m ago
This is a bit of a long shot, but a lot my social embarrassment comes from my tendency to mumble / be hard to understand. Anyone on here have any experience with improving at that stuff?
atoav · 3m ago
[delayed]
Blackarea · 2h ago
I wonder why this was written as these very small paragraphs with only a few lines of content? Apart from the hosting issues due to hackernews it leads to a lot of intros and 'in the next section we will learn...' but the actually useful content is quite little and you have to dig hard for it. I'd personally favor a normal article.
simpss · 2h ago
Most likely, it's for tracking reasons. To figure out what sections people hit more and less...

I agree with you though. It's sad that content is being reformulated for those reasons.

magicalhippo · 52m ago
Maybe I'm weird, but I find the writing style almost condescending.

It's a style I've seen elsewhere as well so not particular to this site, but I find it grating and off-putting. Feels like it treats me like a 4 year old.

moffkalast · 1h ago
Finally something for an LLM to crawl and assemble into a coherent document that can be read from start to finish.
kaiwenwang · 1h ago
Being able to communicate despite differences in status.

Don't try to qualify people.

Do not let others feel contempt.

Don't speak any words outside what someone would commonly be able to accept.

Suppression of ego so others are not uncomfortable. Knowing when to not suppress it if others think you are fake.

SunlightEdge · 5m ago
What does don't try to qualify people mean to you? Does it relate to putting people in boxes/labelling people and making very strong assumptions?
thrownawaysz · 2h ago
This is a very American society focused guide, a lot of these wouldn't even apply in Europe an especially not if you travel to Asia, Middle East, or Africa
7222aafdcf68cfe · 1h ago
Interestingly enough, not nearly as much gets published for e.g. Europe. Innate ability ?
ido · 1h ago
What wouldn’t apply to Europe?
KingMob · 29m ago
The 10-gun salute when strangers come over to your house.
itake · 2h ago
I hope they cover managing your own emotions: staying calm, responding with empathy, and breaking avoidance patterns.

In my last few relationships, I've been having to do relationship coaching with partners because their parents failed to teach them responding with physical or emotional violence is not how you maintain friendships or relationships.

rsaarelm · 1h ago
Mask every day. Life goal: Be 100% artificial person. All openings and responses must be calculated and faked. Your inner self is faulty and not appropriate at any situation. Once you train and work hard enough to suppress it at all times forever, you may be accepted and allowed to participate.
TheCapeGreek · 21m ago
Fake it till you make it.

"Be yourself" is not wrong, but it's not specific enough.

You can be perfectly authentic, but that doesn't mean being socially uncalibrated.

Get good at being sociable, then blend that with your personal tastes and preferences.

I thought "be yourself" was fine until I grew up and learned I was just being rude to most people and called myself introverted when I didn't make friends.

newsclues · 29s ago
This hits home.

After COVID, I stopped caring and trying to fake being a normal person, and choose just to be me, alone.

I wasn't good at trying to be normal, and it's so much nicer to be free to not bother to make the effort and not be me. But I have no friends or good relationships with family (who don't understand or tolerate who I am).

humanono · 1h ago
You are what you are because of circumstances.

Which is fun and great if you came out as a happy cool human.

If you made it through the weird unadjusted side without any gimmick you just loose.

No one has to force you to stay what your surroundings made you. It's not your personality it's just a reflection and you can change it and make it better for you by adjusting and reflecting.

ernst_klim · 30m ago
You severely underestimate the biological side of things regarding social interaction. Neurodivergent people are what we are not just bc "surroundings made us so"
humanono · 22m ago
That includes people like me who are neurodivergent

And I'm also not shaming anyone not wanting or unable to chain themselves.

It was a statement about the uniqueness of ones character and the agency of controlling it/changing or adjusting it by yourself

ernst_klim · 3m ago
Then I don't understand what you are arguing about. If you're neurodivergent, you would always require self awareness and masking, faked as op rightfully stated. You could never natural, no matter what circumstances were.
rsaarelm · 1h ago
Sometimes people already are like something and don't want to change it or feel like they could change it, but also don't get along being like they are. This is more awkward to think about than just treating them as damaged or incomplete people who would get around to becoming people who can fit in fine once the damage is fixed or the incomplete development is completed, because it's harder to see good solutions.
pflenker · 2h ago
Hm, that’s all a bit shallow, isn’t it? Can anyone recommend a more thorough source?
ivape · 2h ago
Life. It's a live and learn type thing. Social has everything to do with the social club you're in. Every club has different rules.
pflenker · 2h ago
Yet these rules aren’t so radically different that there aren’t any common patterns. For instance, noticing people’s birthday and adding them to your calendar so that you can congratulate them is a small, yet very powerful tip that works in pretty much everyday social circle.
Simon_O_Rourke · 2h ago
I've worked with lots of folks on the spectrum and to be honest it's more fun dealing with them as team members rather than "normies".

One guy particularly stands out, he joined the team and started off on a solo run with a couple of projects a few others were involved in. A few weeks later I asked him if he'd setup any meetings with the team to get context and, you know, say hello and his response was "why should I do that, can't they read my PRs?". Classic.

Another one was the very loudly self-diagnosed neurodiverse girl, who seemed to just use it as cover for being a total jerk. Eventually she had to be managed out, as she tipped the scale between doing good work and tolerance of odd behaviors too far - screaming in meetings, histrionics and stuff you'd expect more of someone living on a street corner.

johnisgood · 2h ago
> I asked him if he'd setup any meetings with the team to get context and, you know, say hello and his response was "why should I do that, can't they read my PRs?". Classic.

That would have been my reply, too.

bravetraveler · 1h ago
Ditto. The contributions are saying 'hello' and soliciting input, in one. Also providing the contributor with an opportunity to learn the product in their terms.

I know, I know. The horror of an individual for us all.

I assume the proposition is this: one has no chance to produce value without firm guidance from the onset. Or the time learning is a tragedy. I doubt both of these very much. PRs are another conversation.

The others are free to take their turns. In this hypothetical, apparently, the other side has been unresponsive. Where's their ire; left behind at the bar?

Sorry we didn't apply the correct social pressure or wait until everyone was available at the same time for a call, I guess. I understand how that might hurt optics... I, the baby with superpowers in this scenario, just don't/can't care.

Handholding isn't a requirement. Guess what is: communicating the changes. Look at the PRs. Now that management is involved, we can have a meeting about them going unattended.

strken · 1h ago
I assume the proposition is that trust between coworkers is important (even if you're autistic) and the best way to build extra trust with someone, on top of what you'd normally build just working with them, is to interact with them socially (unless they're autistic and haven't memorised this pattern, in such case they'll just be confused and annoyed).

I think your assumption that this is about "firm guidance" and "optics" and is an insult to your "superpowers" is unlikely to be the motivation.

bravetraveler · 1h ago
"How can we have any pudding if we don't eat our meat?!"

Let's worry about extra trust once they start earning trust (and, arguably, their pay) by reviewing the PRs. Leaving those floating deserves none, from nobody.

To the point of the original post, behaving as a member of the team would be quite welcome. For everyone.

agos · 2h ago
that surely might be a... diversion from boring work, but fun? fun is something else
atemerev · 2h ago
Site is down

so much for my social skills :(

globalnode · 2h ago
we'll have to get by with grunting
dielll · 2h ago
hacker news hug of death
dartharva · 50m ago
Can text ever really teach you social skills? Aren't they, by definition, "social" and thus only obtainable through exposure and practice?
perching_aix · 13m ago
This applies to teaching anything ever; it's the difference between teaching the thing and teaching about the thing. It's a caveat to keep in mind, sure, but not much more.
esschul · 1h ago
Finally.
N_Lens · 1h ago
Ah yes, a very pertinent article for HN!