Dr. Aziz identifies two conversation killers: one-word answers like "good" or "fine" that give others nothing to work with, and staying so literal you never branch out. He recommends sharing more freely, letting your mind wander, and connecting related topics to actually engage people.
Here's the top two conversation mistakes and how to avoid them. Number one is not giving people anything to work with. So they ask you, how's it going? You say, good. How was your weekend? Fine. There's like nothing for them to draw on and it's like rolling a square wheel. So they have to keep the conversation going, they have to try, they have to dig. And eventually people are like, eh, I don't really want to do that. And then number two is staying in a very narrow lane. So you answer just the question they asked or you only focus. They share about their dog or their life and you say, oh, neat. Tell me more about your dog. And you stay right in that lane and you don't let yourself broaden. So the secret to shift this is one, give people something to work, but share more freely, more vulnerable, more authentically about yourself. To let your mind veer a little bit, be a little more spontaneous. They mention their dog. You might ask about the dog, but you might ask about cats or pets or travel or anything that's somewhat loosely related to what they just said. And this opens up your conversations to be way more engaging.
