As a scientist, I began to view my interactions with other people as small social experiments to train myself.
Just little steps to start to take me closer to my goal, for example smiling at strangers on the street....
Over time I began to assemble jigsaw pieces of what charisma and confidence look like...
And this is where the big changes started to happen...
My first success was to decode ‘charm’ – a key pillar of charisma.
I used this to make great friends. This was the first big improvement I saw in my life.
‘Goodbye lonely weekends!’’
But the real magic was yet to come...
While on holiday with friends in Miami I discovered my new power:
It was our last night... and as we walked back to our hotel to pack and get ready for our morning flight I spotted another group walking towards us.
They were laughing about something.
Now, the ‘old me’ would have passed them by, and kept quiet and not said anything.
But with my new attitude. I wanted to try something...
I chose not to be invisible and used that moment to get some practice.
Nervously I piped up and started chatting to a girl named Amber...
She was cool, although her group weren’t heading home, they’d just arrived.
But we goofed around...
…and that was awesome, since we only just met.
And since there was such a great rapport, we postponed our plans to get an early night and we went for cocktails.
I chatted to the waiter and we got on so well he poured us free shots!
(Here’s a picture he took of us all.)