8 Ways To Learn How To Have More Meaningful Relationships

We all want to be better. A better woman, a better partner, a better mother, a better entrepreneur. The truth is that, when it comes to being better and being successful, the relationships we build play a crucial role.

In this post, I share eight steps you can follow to build better, meaningful, long-lasting personal relationships.

1. Be Honest

Regardless of the type of relationship you want to build, you owe it to yourself and to others to be honest. When you’re true to yourself and know what you want, cultivating incredible relationships, which are going to benefit you and others, is going to be easier.

2. Put Others Before Yourself

The “secret sauce” for building any type of long-lasting connection is no fancy words or mind tricks here…just one word: listening. You may have an agenda, but you have to make sure that you’re a listener first.

Always.

3. How to Always Make a Great First Impression

Let’s be honest: I’m sure you have been on your way to an a party or date, and have been thinking of how you could make a great first impression.

When it comes to this aspect, many people focus on what they’re going to say first. Truth bomb is that first impressions have nothing to do with what you say.

First impressions are non-verbal, they happen when someone notice's you and makes a first assessment of you.

Here’s what you can do: keep your head up, shoulders back, chest up and have a nice smile on your face. If you look open, confident and friendly, people are going to treat you that way.

4. Make Everybody You Meet Feel Welcome

You may be wondering, “How am I going to do that?”

Well, the answer is easier than you think. And ties into what I have discussed in point #2.

If you want to make every single person you meet feel welcome, you need to pay attention to them and show interest.

Be curious and ask them about themselves - people love when others show interest in them. Are they saying something interesting? Great! Make sure to repeat some of that, as you’re commenting what they have just told you.

In most cases, showing interest is going to result in the other person’s genuine interest in you and your personal story.

5. Focus on the Positive

We all have interactions throughout our day - with people, our children, our colleagues and business partners, the bus driver, etc. But what can you do to improve their nature?

The answer is simple: focus on having more positive interactions.

So, what can you do about that?

For starters, pay attention and put emphasis on people’s strengths and wins. When talking to someone try and focus on their positive traits.

You shouldn’t ignore the negative sides of your interactions, but ideally you would want to follow an 80-20 rule. Where 80% of your interactions look at positive aspects, and only the 20% deals with negative ones.

6. (Be a Helper and) Take It One Step Further

How can you stand out from the crowd and make sure others remember you?

Whether you’re struggling to build meaningful personal relationships, there’s a good chance that you following the mass and what I call being "vanilla". Being like everybody else and doing what everybody else’s doing, has an impact on that.

Maybe you want to impress the man you’re dating (remember, be honest to yourself).

Keep in mind that we all need help with something. Your date may be new to the local area and in need of help getting to know the place or new to dating after a divorce or death of his wife. He will be just as nervous as you.

Stand out by being the flavoursome ice cream sundae you truly are, such as - pistachio with chocolate sauce, chopped nuts, marshmallows and rainbow sprinkles! Be your authentic self and smile!

7. Don’t Be Afraid to Show Your Flaws

Sometimes, you need to put your ego aside, open up and admit you have made a mistake.

Why?

We all want to be perfect, but the reality is that vulnerability allows us to connect with those we’re talking to on an emotional level.

In other words, by being honest, admitting you made a mistake and by apologising, you show a big strength: your ability to admit your flaws. Remember, showing your vulnerable side is a sign of openness and honesty to the other person.

8. Leave Everything and Everybody Better Than You Found Them

There’s plenty of tips and tricks I could share with you. If you want to build better, meaningful, long-lasting relationships, it all boils down to this quote by Jordan Harbinger:

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