Making eye contact is a very important part of making a good impression when you are meeting new people. This is probably most important when you are in a job interview situation or if you have an important sale or idea to pitch. Apparently most people tend to make eye contact with people for an average of four seconds at a time, any longer than that and the feeling goes a little bit weird, unless you’re looking into the eyes of a loved one, or you’re a professional boxer trying to stare down your opponent before a big fight!
Watch the Big Think youtube video with Michael Ellsberg, the author of The Power of Eye Contact: Your Secret for Success in Business, Love and Life (2010) and The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late(2011), talking about how to make better eye contact. He is American so if you’re more used to listening to English accents then it’s a great chance to practice your American English listening skills.
Here is a list of some of the more interesting words and phrases with an explanation or definition:
Icky – Unpleasant.
Limp – Lacking internal strength or structure; not firm.
Heebie-jeebies – Extreme nervousness.
Impactful – Having a major effect.
Influential – Having a great influence on somebody or something; important.
Posture – The way you stand or sit; how upright you are.
Err – To be wrong.
Flitting – Moving quickly around.
Bearing down – To be a heavy weight on something or somebody; in this context it means to look intensely.
To gaze – To stare at.
Taking in – Looking at (in this context); understanding; comprehending.