Page 136 - Effective Communication Skills Mastery Bible 4 Books in 1 Boxset by Tuhovsky, Ian

To annihilate this problem, you need to learn things that will

fill your head with hundreds of retorts for any given occasion.

The art of the retort is very subtle. Not only is it about

knowing what to say in a particular moment, but it also needs

to be done and said in the right way. It is not enough to know
only the techniques that can help you find a great retort, but a

foundation, the right approach to what other people say.

A mix of all these elements creates a special skill that allows

you to have your guard up all the time without any effort from

your side.

Granted, I won’t give you any prewritten texts or so-called

“canned material” here. Learning someone else’s retorts by

heart would be the best recipe for making you as close to sharp

retorts as politicians are to telling the truth. Believe me, such

an approach would make you miss that perfect moment to
shoot your verbal bullet as each single time you would

wonder, “Which response should I use?” for too long.

Instead of that, in this chapter I will tell you about

spontaneity—the key to make your answers natural, different

and unique each single time. So if you are ready and want to
become a master of the witty retort, get to know each of the

points below and start to work!

1. First and foremost—distance yourself from your own

flaws and what other people say about you and simply chill

out! Even if these are unpleasant comments concerning your
weak points, people often do this out of fear or because they

do not feel secure in your company. Some people do it to raise

their own status when they feel inferior. If you took everything

other people say personally, you would constantly go into