Finding Friends

Do you have a lot of friends? Is it easy for you to introduce yourself to people? Do others ask you to go to activities with them? Are you invited to parties? If you want to persuade a teacher, boss, or your parents to do something, do you usually succeed? When you need to get help from a salesperson in a store, can you usually get it?

If you answered "yes" to most of these questions, you may have a good ability to get along with others. This will be a tremendous help in getting and keeping a job. Some people with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia are very skilled in connecting with other people. Having a disability may have taught them teamwork as they negotiated the help they needed.

If you have good social graces, be proud of them. But there are always ways to make them better. And that effort is worth it. Each year, the ability to get along with others, lead them, persuade them, and inspire them becomes more critical to professional and personal success.