How to Win Friends and Influence People

by Johnny Le
(Vancouver)

One of the biggest lessons that I learnt from this book is that I should often remind myself to smile. A smile is like a miracle with fabulous hidden power in it than you could ever imagine. As I explained in another post that I used to be a depressed person.

I used to meet people with a depressed face. Sometimes I heard people saying behind my back: "What's wrong with him? He is so shy and he always looks bored. He doesn't talk much. He always stays home and he doesn't hang out with friends". Some of you might be able to connect to that. And only you and I know, how PAINFUL it is every time we hear those words.

After I applied the technique of greeting everyone with a smile, life becomes more enjoyable than ever. I become more positive and help people around me to feel positive as well. And hey! I become more handsome than before! The fact is that no matter how you look, if you put a smile on your face, you will instantly look more attractive!! ( I bet you are smiling right now!) Also, if you greet someone with a smile, they will tend to mirror it and smile back at you, which helps both people feel more positive and have a better conversation.

I remember one day I went to a small store to drill a hole on my belt and make it tighter. The owner of the store was Korean and this man has a great smile. After having my belt drilled, I looked at him and he was smiling at me and I felt like there was an invisible power that kept me staying in the store (like I fell in love with him or something, but I'm not gay ok?...haha).

I felt like he was a very friendly person so I decided to stay and talk to him for a while. Afterward, I decided to buy another key chain from him which I didn't intend to at all when I walked in the store. I still remember his smile and I'm willing to refer friends and come back to his store anytime. What a smile!!

Another great lesson I learnt from this book is to give compliments to other people. The fact is that most people love to receive compliments from others. When you compliment someone, you help them feel respected and enhance their self-image. To the man out there, think of the time when you gave a compliment to a girl, remember how happily they reacted? (Some girls might go crazy and jump around and hug you! haha) Honestly, you never know how worth-while your compliment is to someone.

I recently had a group presentation and we had to present about a topic which I wasn't interested in at all. Thus, I was struggling with contributing my ideas about the topic. I somehow felt worthless to the group. Therefore, I tried to do my best during the presentation and applied all the knowledge I have learnt about public speaking to make my speech engaging and easy to comprehend.

After we finished the presentation, one of my partners, her name is Jenna, with an impressed face, she told me :"Hey Johnny, you did a great job! I like the way you presented!" At that time, my self-image instantly went up, I realized that I wasn't worthless to the group at all. She made me feel better about myself and I must thank her for offering the compliment.

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