Dr. Aziz argues that embracing awkwardness can build social confidence. He illustrates this with a personal anecdote about being coached to approach strangers in a bar—an initially awkward interaction that showed him awkwardness isn’t fatal and that repeated practice creates ease.
Did you know that being awkward can actually boost your confidence? Let me tell you a quick story to show you what I mean. So there was a time in my life where I was under the tutelage of this Jedi confident guy. He was like a Yoda, right? And I was like the young Jedi in training. And so we go out into the world. I remember the first time we went out, I thought he was going to have me approach all these hot women and face my fears. And the first place we went to was a bar. And we got right in the door, and he said, you see that couple over there? Go talk to them. I followed his finger and I was like, that couple? And it was like a middle aged, overweight biker couple. The guy was wearing leather, and she was wearing a leather jacket and jeans. And I was like, okay. And I was terrified because I never approached people like that, just strangers. So I walked up to them and I was like, hey, how you guys doing tonight? And I chatted for like 30, 60 seconds. It was pretty awkward, but they were okay, friendly. And then I walked away. And guess what I realized that you can just go talk to people. That awkwardness isn't fatal. And that going through that awkward phase is actually how you build the confidence to go and talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and have it be no big deal.
