For some people, overcoming shyness is a difficult and often unimaginable task. Everyone has felt various degrees of shyness and insecurity but there are few who experience the real horror of it. I won’t go into detail because I’m not here to discourage you. I’m here to offer you a new approach.

The key to overcoming shyness can be long, discouraging and difficult yet at the same time it can be quite simple and very effective. It requires setting up a plan with many different goals. Now let me give you an example of a plan to start with.

Let’s say that these are the four different aspects you need to work on to overcome your shyness.

1- Body Language

2- Small Talk

3- Meeting New People

4- Assertiveness

What you need to do is concentrate on one aspect at a time. If you attempt to work on all 4 categories you are guaranteed to fail and become discouraged. So let’s take the simplest category, #3.

To become less shy, you need to become comfortable around strangers. The best way to do this is by meeting new people. As you keep meeting new people you will feel much more at ease when you are in the presence of people you do not know very well.

Here is what you do:

Week 1: Practice looking in the eyes of strangers and smile. Do not look away from people.

Week 2: Say hi to a minimum of 7 people you do not know.

Week 3: Arrange a meeting with 2 people you do not know very well.

Week 4: Organize a meeting or a night out with a group of people you do not regularly spend time with.

Within a month, I guarantee you will become more comfortable around strangers if you follow this schedule. Work on a different aspect every month and your social skills will dramatically improve.

The key to overcoming shyness is setting well-defined goals and persisting. No one ever said overcoming shyness was easy. What you need to do is regard it as an important aspect of your life and take it as seriously as you take your career, family and friends. Concentrate and persist and you will overcome your shyness.