Be yourself and be true to who you are. Don't let neurotypical conditioning define your identity.
Be yourself and be true to who you are. Don't let neurotypical conditioning define your identity.
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If I'm making eye contact with you, I have no idea what you're saying.
..... Um.
Well. This post has been eye opening and maybe a little disturbing.
Anyway I work in sales and eye contact is a must. I find it really hard to pay any attention to what people are saying when I'm looking at them but I've practiced enough that there's, like, a subroutine in my brain that that picks out the relevant information in a conversation while I consciously am not really engaged in a meaningful way. I'll ask the right questions and it seems like I'm paying attention but I'm really just running on auto pilot.
I'll finish a video conference or in person meeting thanking God for transcription software because I can't recall a fucking thing they talked about.
I've realized in life that nobody cares about what's actuallly happening. They are about what looks like it's happening. I don't understand it and I never will but everyone wants you to lie to them, constantly. So just give the people what they need.
Once I realized this life got a lot smoother.
Mind you, I hate talking to lawyers, consultants and salespeople who do that (and they're plenty) and I'm developing aversion to meeting new ones because of it. If you ever suspect your client is autistic, consider the possibility of not actually caring about eye contact, because they'll probably prefer that.
Oh I've practiced so much, I can focus now. I have to meet a lot of "strangers" every day for my job.
Also, I got a book called "how to win friends and influence people". I've been practicing all the techniques the book teaches on people and it absolutely works. I haven't read a book since high school. It's very well written!
Edit: the book specifically talks about sales a lot. That book is especially useful for sales.