New Year’s Resolutions For Your Social Life

2021 was a weird year. Vaccines and boosters opened up more opportunities for social gathering, but the pandemic is still very much a thing, and it’s tough to break out of inertia and start making friends. After a long time of social distancing and forgetting how to make small talk, breaking out of your shell can feel harder than ever. The … Read More

Online Social Skills Training Group

If you want to improve your social skills, meet and make new friends, or just have fun and play D&D, I found an awesome opportunity for you. Deep Eddy Psychotherapy in Austin, Texas has hired a professional Game Master to run D&D games for kids, teens, and adults. They call them “Personal Enrichment Adventures” to help clarify that these games … Read More

How to handle teasing in a group?

Hi everyone! Today’s Reader Reply email is from “C.” He asks about a tricky situation – how do you handle being in a group where people use satire and humor that feels hurtful to you? C writes… I am writing to enquire about a conflict that I recently have. In the coming October, I will start my third year in … Read More

The Secret Of Small Talk – New Video Course!

Hi everyone! I’ve thrilled to announce that my very first video course, “The Secret Of Small Talk” is now live. If you’ve ever felt like small talk is a waste of time, this course is for you. You’ll learn how to use small talk as a way to form genuine connections, and I think you’ll have a lot of fun … Read More

Improving Your Child’s Social Skills

Hi everyone! This is a guest post from pediatric psychologist Dr. Aaron Montgomery. He explains the evidence-based plan that he uses to help his young clients improve socially, which can be adapted by parents, teachers, or anyone else who wants to help kiddos succeed socially. His ideas can be easily adapted to adults as well, so whether you want to … Read More

“Take a deep breath” doesn’t calm anxiety. Try this instead.

“Take a deep breath.” If you struggle with anxiety, you’ve heard that advice. But when you actually took that deep breath, you probably felt just as anxious as you did before. That’s because it’s terrible advice. I’ll explain the two main reasons why taking a deep breath doesn’t work — and then I’ll explain a simple breathing technique that does … Read More

How To Motivate Yourself To Be More Social

There’s a simple trick from psychology for motivating yourself to be more social. It’s usually used in the world of sales. Instead of asking “Do you want to buy a car?” a salesmen will ask “Would you rather buy the red car of the blue car?” No matter which you choose, you still end up buying a car. It’s also … Read More

August 2015 Update

Hi everyone! I just finished my first year of graduate school (whew!) so I thought I’d take this opportunity to update everyone on what’s been going on with the site. I realize that there have been no new blog posts for several months, but there has been a lot of other great things happening at Improve Your Social Skills. So … Read More

New Video On “How To Avoid Talking Too Much”

Hi everyone! I’ve decided to start up a YouTube channel, where I’ll share social skills videos. I’m still a beginner at the world of YouTube, but I’m hopeful I can provide some helpful videos. My first video is up now — it’s a 60 second explanation of how you can avoid talking too much. Enjoy, and let me know what … Read More