How to have better conversations

Jul 28, 2026 · 20 min

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EP · Life Kit · How to have better conversations19:45

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0:00There was a study that was done at Harvard Business School where they asked students, before they had a conversation with a stranger, they asked all the students to write down three topics that they thought they could discuss.

0:10This took like 10 seconds, right?

0:12People would write down like, you know, this weekend's game and what TV shows I watch, just little dumb throwaway things.

0:19And then they went and they had conversations with strangers and everyone would put the card away.

0:24Many of them would put it in their back pocket.

0:26And the topics they had jotted down often never came up.

0:31But the fact that they were there almost overwhelmingly made all of the participants feel less anxious about those discussions.

0:39And as a result, those discussions went much, much better.

0:43You're listening to LifeKit.

0:45I'm Marie El Segara.

0:46And you just heard from Charles Duhigg, reporter and author of the book Super Communicators.

0:52It's a deep dive on how to have better conversations.

0:56A lot of the time we're talking at other people, not to them or with them.

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