Social Capital

"Social Capital" is simply the "network of relationships and acquantainces" that a person has developed over life".

We all hear fancy ass quotes about "making strong professional relations", "staying in touch with friends" and "your network is your net-worth". Here's a quick rundown of the best-selling way to build such social capital, since the past 80 years and beyond! Basically, become more likeable.

These are my key pointers from the book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie. Each topic is its own tweetstorm - so kick back and read these wisdom snippets to help you build a strong people network.

With that let's dive in by understanding 6 ways to be a person who's good at making friends.

6 ways to make people like you

A dog makes his living by giving you nothing but love

You can make more friends in 2 months by becoming interested in other people than you can, in 2 years, by trying to get other people interested in you

When you see a group photograph that you're in, whose picture do you look for first ?

It is the individual who is not interested in his/her fellow men/women who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from such individuals that all human failures spring

You have to be interested in people if you wanna be a successful writer of stories

Can win the attention and time and cooperation of even the most sought-after people by becoming genuinely interested in them

eg : To call someone for an interview, write a letter first enclosing a list of questions that you except them to answer about themselves and their method of work

To find out someone's birthday ⇒ Begin by asking whether he/she believes the date of anyone's birth has anything to do with character or disposition

A show of interest, like every other human emotion, must be sincere

A smile says - "I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you". That is why dogs make such a hit

A real smile, a heartwarming smile, a smile that comes from within, the kind of smile that will bring a good price in the marketplace

People who smile, tend to manage, teach and sell more effectively

Smile comes through in your voice

Hard work alone is the magic  key that will unlock the door to our desires. People have succeeded because they had a rip-roaring good time conducting their business. As the fun becomes work, people change ⇒ lose joy in it, leading business to grow dull and fail

Happiness doesn't depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions

It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. Different mental attitude

Action seems to follow feeling but really, action and feeling go together and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling which is not

Thus, the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness is to sit up cheerfully and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there

Most folks are about as happy as they make up our minds to be

Picture in your mind, the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual

A man/woman without a smiling face must not open a shop. It costs nothing but creates much

1. The average person is more interested in his or her own name in all the other names on earth put together
2. Remember that name and call it easily, and you have paid a subtle and very effective compliment. But forget it or misspell it and you have placed yourself at a sharp disadvantage
3. The executive who can't remember names can't remember a significant part of his/ her business and is operating on quicksand
4. Take the time and energy necessary to concentrate and repeat and fix names indelibly in their minds
5. Most important ways of gaining good will is by remembering names and making people feel important
6. To recall a voter's name is statesmanship. To forget it is oblivion
7. To repeat the name several times during conversation and try to associate it with the person's features, expression and general appearance
8. Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices
9. Magic contained in a name should be realized as the single item, wholly and completely owned by the person with whom we are dealing and nobody else.
10. The name sets the individual apart; it makes him/ her unique among all others
11. The info we are imparting or the request we are making takes on special importance when we approach the situation with the name of the individual.
12. From the waitress to the senior executive herself, the name will work magic as we deal with others.

1. Few human beings are proof against the implied flattery of rapt attention
2. Dale Carnegie on listening and responding ⇒ Hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise
3. Good conversationalists are merely good listeners who encourage a person to talk
4. "Yes, and" - pay attention and show indications of it from time to time with approval or disapproval.
5. Important personages crave a good listener but ordinary folk do too.
6. "Many a person call a doctor when all they want is an audience"
7. If you wanna know how to PREVENT making people shun you and laugh at you behind your back and even despise you, here is the recipe :

• Always listen to anyone for long
• Don't talk incessantly about yourself
• If you have an idea while the other person is talking, wait for him/ her to finish

1. People who talk of themselves think only of themselves
2. Those people who think of themselves are hopelessly uneducated, no matter how instructed they may be
3. People you might be talking to are 100 times more interested in themselves and their wants and problems than they are in you and your problems
4. Therefore, if you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener

1. Theodore Roosevelt used to sit up late the night before, reading up on the subject in which he knew the guest is particularly interested in
2. Road to a person's heart is to talk about the things he/ she treasures most
3. The reward is an enlargement of life each time you speak to someone

1. If we are contemptibly selfish that we can't radiate a little happiness and pass on a bit of honest appreciation without trying to get somethin out of the other person in return — we shall meet with the failure that we so richly deserve
2. Attain the feeling that you have done something for him/ her without his/ her being able to do anything in return for you
3. The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated ~ William James
4. Do unto others and you would have others do unto you
5. Little phrases such as "I'm sorry to trouble you", "Would you be so kind as to —?", "Won't you please ?", "Would you mind", "Thank you —" little courtesies like these, oil the cogs of the monotonous grind of everyday and, incidentally, they are the hallmark of good breeding
6. The power of honest appreciation is stupendous as everyone considers themselves imp
7. Every person I meet is my superior in some way  ~Emerson
8. Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours

In conclusion

Be interested, smile, remember their name, listen more, talk about their interests and make them feel important. You nail that and you find yourself as a likeable, good friend who is connected to a lot of different kinds of people very well.