You might imagine that this blog post is going to be critical of men. But the truth is that, all too often, it is women who are equally responsible for men they date waffling on, monopolising conversation and generally being quite boring.
How can a woman be responsible for a man talking too much?
Sometimes the signals a woman gives off during a date can encourage a man’s rambling. Here’s how to stop that…
Smile less
If something genuinely makes you want to smile, that’s fine. But if you’re prone to polite smiling, try to cut back. Constantly smiling can make you look emotionally needy and may also give the impression that you’re enjoying listening to the monologue.
Work on an interjection
Practice interrupting politely in everyday conversations so that you’re comfortable doing it on dates, too. Before interjecting, make a point of changing your body language to make it clear that you’re planning on altering the course of the conversation. You’ll find some great tips on how to do this in the video above.
The next stage is to find a light-hearted and inoffensive way of saying: “Shut up and let me talk!” It could be something as simple as: “Remember, I’ve got to go in 20 minutes so let me tell you a bit about myself.”
There are more examples of the sort of thing you might use as your interjection in the video.
Date expectations
Courtship and dating rituals throughout history have conditioned men to think that the onus is on them to impress their date.
If they don’t make a good impression their date will have no reason to see them again, or so countless examples in literature and film would have them believe, so they cram in as much information as possible.
Talking at length about your achievements without letting the other person talk can make even the nicest person come across as boastful and arrogant.
Keep in mind that those character traits might not reflect your date’s true personality. Work on ways of stopping them in their tracks so that you get to meet the real person.
Are you talking too much?
Although it’s mainly men who are guilty of talking too much, be careful you don’t fall into the trap. Women can also make these mistakes on dates.
If everything you’ve read here sounds a bit alien, make sure it’s not because you’re the one who hogs the conversation on dates. If you think you might do this occasionally, work on getting your date to take their share of the chatter by asking them questions or inviting them to expand on something they mentioned earlier.
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