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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Captivate summary
Vanessa Van Edwards
The Science of Succeeding with People
4.2 (150 ratings)
17 mins
7 key ideas
Audio & text
What is Captivate about?
Captivate (2017) is your guide to human behavior and social success. Whether you’re trying to connect with others at home, at work or out in the world, Van Edwards set about breaking down the mechanics of how to capture people’s attention and engage in meaningful interaction.
About the Author
Vanessa Van Edwards is a hacker of human behavior. Having struggled with a number of social situations throughout her childhood and adolescence, she decided to put the newest scientific research on human behavior to the test. Her behavior lab, Science of People, endeavors to teach people how to succeed in every conversation they have.
Table of Contents
Captivate
summarized in 7 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 7
Control social situations by focusing on your strengths and the people who matter.
Imagine you’ve been invited to a party or networking event. The problem is, you consider yourself a somewhat socially awkward person. To succeed in this foreign and uncomfortable environment, you’ll need a strategy to gain control over the situation. In other words, you’ll need a social game plan.
Keep in mind that different people do well in different social contexts. Indeed, the point of coming up with a social game plan is to avoid the contexts that you dislike. After all, nobody would expect a pitcher to also be a star second baseman – and the same goes for social contexts: few people thrive in every situation.
Simply put, do your best to avoid the social situations you most abhor. If you try to fake your way through them, you might find yourself in trouble; fakeness is something people can easily sense.
Want proof? Well, a survey done by Science of People, the author’s lab, tested the ability of participants to identify a fake smile. In the end, 86.9 percent of the 4,361 participants successfully identified the fake smile.
So knowing where you’re comfortable is important, but it’s also necessary to decide precisely whom you’ll focus on. Remember, you don’t have to please everyone. Focus on the people you want to reach.
The author learned this lesson when one of her YouTube followers complained, in a comment, that her casual attire made her appear unprofessional in her videos. The author was initially concerned about the comment and even considered re-shooting her videos. But pretty quickly she realized that she was looking to connect with a particular type of student for her courses; she wanted people who could focus, not those who would be easily distracted by her clothing.
This helped her realize that she didn’t have to appeal to everyone. She alone could define the group of people relevant to her work and use her brainpower to draw them in.
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Best quote from Captivate
Vulnerability is sexy – it shows we are relatable, honest, and real.
—Vanessa Van Edwards
Who should read Captivate
- Young people who want to improve their social skills
- Singles looking to become dating pros
- Managers and entrepreneurs who want their employees to do their best
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