12 Mistakes that SCREW UP Conversations & Flirtations

Some mistakes really doom a conversation. Make any of these too early on, and your impression will be toast – along with the conversation.

A while back a reader named Xander, talking about some of his flirtations, asked about mistakes people make in early conversation that spell the end of those conversations:

I have seen that if girl is attracted to guy every mistake he makes is forgiven to him and if she isn’t she will intentionally look for things she dislike and reasons to behave bad. [...] Many times, I was in situation that girl from the beginning starts to look for reasons to be annoyed. [...] Some examples: I would disagree about some irrelevant topic during conversation and girl would be really pissed off and even start to shake from anger. They would ask me for my age and if difference is higher then few years they would criticize me about too different for them, etc.

There is an element of that that is true; if someone simply doesn't like you, it will be a lot easier for you to trigger a negative reaction with that person than it would be if you were liked.

Why is that? Well, we tend to give the people we like the benefit of the doubt. If someone you like makes an error, you arrive at the most charitable assumption as to why.

When someone you dislike makes an error, however, you're a lot more likely to assume ugly reasons or motivations for it, or that you and this person just aren't compatible.

This is true even for very fair-minded individuals (and even more so for the hot-tempered among us!).

This article won't be completely focused on 'liking', but if you follow the steps in it you'll be more liked, too.

Our chief focus today is on mistakes that damage conversations with other people -- in particular, those mistakes you make early on, when that first impression is still subject to change.

We'll cover two types of conversation mistakes below:

1. General mistakes that apply to all the conversations you'll have with anyone

2. Flirtation mistakes that apply to your romantic conversations with prospective paramours

On with it!