If You Display These 10 Traits, You Might Be a Boring Person

Boring is as boring does. If you need to up the ante on your scintillation skills, these tips from experts will help.

If you’re looking for ways to feel more excited or exciting, try some boredom busters right now. “Being boring is relative to the company you keep, and the perceptions you have of yourself. I can’t tell you how many clients I have who think they are boring, and yet the evidence doesn’t support it,” says Joshua Klapow, PhD , a clinical psychologist, and host of The Web radio show. Dr. Klapow believes that the most important question you should ask yourself is, do you think you are boring? If the answer is yes, then you need to literally list out what it would look like if you were not boring. What would you do? How would you speak? How would you interact? This exercise becomes your road map for making change. Once you have written this down, ask yourself how realistic it will be to achieve what is on the list. You now have a way to start making small changes in your life, that are consistent with your desires.

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You’re with the wrong crowd

If your conversation starters are known to empty out rooms, it may not be what you’re saying, but who you’re saying it to, that causes the boredom epidemic surrounding you. An easy fix? Find your interest tribe—two or more people, who share the same fascinations, be it gourmet food, comic books, or politics—and hang with them at least some of the time.

If you’re a physics nerd, you may love to expound endlessly about the study of matter, space, and time. A fashionista? If so, you probably expound endlessly about hemlines, fabrics, and the differences between kitten heels, and stilettos. These topics, so fascinating to you, may bore those around you to death—unless, of course, you’re talking to members of your interest tribe. You will feel (and be) less boring if you find, and hang, with people whose interests mirror your own. Here are 37 conversation starters that will instantly make you more interesting to the people around you.