Vanessa Van Edwards explains why asking better questions makes you memorable. Skip "What do you do?" and ask something that excites people instead, because dopamine creates mental markers that stick with them.
Research has found that when we produce dopamine in conversation, it actually makes you more memorable. Dopamine, it's the chemical of motivation. It's the chemical of pleasure and excitement. And when you're asked about things that make you feel excited, you actually produce dopamine and you create what are called mental markers. Dr. Medina calls them mental Post-it notes. That you're with someone and they ask you a dopamine-worthy question, your brain goes, ooh, this person makes me feel good. I'm gonna remember them. You literally use dopamine-triggering words. Do not ask, "What do you do?" anymore. "What do you do?" is really asking, "What are you worth?" If we're gonna get rid of it, what are we gonna replace it with? Are things that someone defines themself by that get them excited. That's a very, very simple swap, but it allows someone to say, all we're doing is we're trying to sub out autopilot questions for dopamine-producing questions.
