The Five Levels of Boring Conversation

Some people are so bored that all they can manage to talk about is:

1. “How are things?” “Good. You?”
2. Their status—where they stand in the community, how much money they made (or spent).
3. Their job. TPS reports. Corporate talk. “Let’s circle back around to that.”
4. The weather. “It’s so hot.” “It’s so cold.” And it never seems quite right.
5. Gossip. The never-ending stream of viral news, down to what the neighbor down the street said.

Like a duck in a pond, there is so much more than meets the eye. We can be more creative about what we have to say.

The problem isn’t that we don’t know what to say; it’s just that thinking takes a lot of effort. And the risk we feel is too great to say something that people don’t expect, and so we go back to what’s expected.