Dear Diary,

You may remember Andrew Horn from the dance floor. He’s there almost every time we dance in NYC — his moves are slick and his leopard print and astronaut costumes are on point.👌 You know the one! Turns out, he’s also an expert on meaningful conversation AND he’s the founder of one of the coolest companies ever, Tribute. I know, our community is magic. Today, he’s teaching us how to overcome social anxiety and connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

So watch it (above!) — it is so good — and then he’s got four challenges for us that we can put into action today. Take it away, Andrew …

“A reality that we should all embrace is that our professional success, career trajectory and romantic relationships can change dramatically because of a single conversation — we need to make ’em count.

In my recent “Talk at Google” I break down a three step process for overcoming social anxiety, manifesting presence and asking better questions to connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere.✨

Daybreaker has brought deep joy and connection into my life and I’m excited to commandeer the mischief army to spark some meaningful conversation in the world this week.”

Here are are four simple challenges for each of you to start having more meaningful conversations this week:

1. // Find your authentic voice

The authentic voice can be defined as a deep down understanding of who we are, what we want, and what we believe in. If we don’t know what our voice is, we’ll constantly seek validation from others to tell us what is “acceptable” or “cool”.

💥 Challenge :Answer these questions for yourself…

+ What do I care about?

+ What’s important to me right now?

+ What’s my dream?

+ What am I struggling with?

+ What am I most excited about?

2.// Ask better questions! No more “what do you do?”

💥 Challenge: Go an entire week without asking “What do you do”  and replace your ice breakers with the questions below.

Asking questions and listening will always make your counterpart feel valued. On top of that, questions are the quickest path to learning and growing. Before you meet someone, simply ask yourself what you most want to learn about them and let that curiosity lead your conversation towards awesomeness.

+ What are you most excited about?

+ What’s challenging right now?

+ What’s your focus at the moment?

+ What do you spend most of your time thinking about these days?

+ What’s the dream? If you could do anything, what would you be doing?

3. // Practice the 60 second presence meditation before a big meeting or social event

If we are worried about what people think of us, we won’t be present. If we’re not present, we won’t fully connect. Our brains are really good at telling us what is going to go wrong.  We need to remind them what feels like when things go right.💖

💥 Challenge: Close your eyes, take three deep breaths and walk through the following before an important meeting or date….

Step 1: What are you afraid of? What is the undesired state of being?

Step 2: Ask yourself how you want to feel. Give yourself three characteristics that you want to manifest.

4.// Go DEEP with one person you’ve been wanting to get to know better

💥 Challenge: Set aside a meal, hangout or train ride with a friend, family member or coworker that you’ve been wanting to get to know better.  Use the 10 questions below to find out who someone truly is and see how it transforms your connection…

If you have any questions or want to bring me out to your company/organization…email me at [email protected] or find me on twitter and instagram at @itsandrewhorn.

#morningmischief