Who am I? And why should you bother reading my stuff?

Hi! Welcome to my blog.  I am so excited for you if this is the first time you’ve visited my site as I’ve got a lot of cool stuff to share with you.

Firstly let me congratulate and thank you for,being here.  The fact you’re on my blog suggests I hope, that you have at least some interest in personal development and  improving your social abilities. My blog is to share the insights and philosophies I’ve found to be immensely transformative in succeeding in social situations and they’ve come form a variety of surprising sources.

So…who am I?

My name’s Nik.  I was born and raised in Wembley in northwest London, UK.  During my teens, I became interested in Hinduism, Buddhism, spirituality and study of the self (particularly my own mind).  Initially intending to leave school and join a temple I took a complete U-turn and moved away from organised religion, I carried some lessons from it that shaped my desire to understand the workings of my mind and I decided to devote myself to self study and reflection but this time from a more empirical scientific basis. I applied to medical school and was accepted into Imperial College London.  Initially intending to study psychiatry I undertook a BSc in Neuroscience and Mental Health.  The consequence of this was the realisation that I wanted to direct my inquiries though neuroscience and and more tangible study of the brain and mind rather than through psychiatry which I found to be rather amorphous and abstract (no disrespect to any psychiatrists out there).  I graduated in 2012 and have been moving almost constantly around England and Wales, taking up a variety of general medical jobs from oncology, general medicine (with some general surgery), stroke and intensive care before returning home to my calling and specialising in Neurology.

Outside of work, I like surfing which is the best escape I’ve ever found. I go to the gym, play guitar and of course write.  I spend much (if not most) of my free time learning about and discussing human psychology and particularly social interactions.  It’s truly fascinating how people think and behave and I’m continually amazed at how despite our individuality and presumed independence, our brains and psychology function so similarly on a systems level. We act in incredibly consistent and predictable ways when presented with certain environmental challenges or situations while believing we are unique in our experiences, fears, insecurities and emotions.  Obviously we’re not robots and have differences but the more I delve into this field, the more I realise these differences are overstated.  We really do all tick very similarly it seems.  Our actions are driven by the same (or similar) motivating factors, we share most of the same of life’s concerns and our perception of ourselves in relation to the world is remarkably consistent from person to person.

In my own journey I’ve come across certain mindsets and philosophies that I’ve found to be incredibly powerful in helping me achieve my goals, especially when it comes to human interactions. Growing up as quite a shy kid who was maybe a little socially awkward, over time I’ve become pretty gregarious (hate that word though) and extroverted now.  That said, I also found there’s nothing wrong with introversion, despite  western society seeing it as a negative trait.  Like you probably, I’m a work in progress and will be for the rest of my life but I created this blog to share my realisations in the field of social interactions and present some very powerful and genuinely life changing mindsets and techniques I’ve learnt to connect with people very quickly and on a deep level in a variety of life situations.

I’ve found the experience of discovering these concepts and philosophies akin to finding a new world hidden under my feet and this paradigm shift has completely changed the way I interact with it and everyone in it.

Over a period of a few years I developed an incredible ability to meet and relate to pretty much anyone.  I found ways of developing close friendships effortlessly and connecting with people almost instantly.  This proved to be the case at work, in my social life and with relationships.  It really did feel like a bit of an enlightenment (as grandiose as that sounds) and felt I was developing some sort of esoteric mental superpower.

I hope that through my blog, you’ll also discover a different world that will transform how you approach social interactions.

As I footnote I use what I learnt and have tested everything I present in my blog, which I hope will serve as a sort of written record of what I’ve learnt for the benefit of others who are interested in developing the social aspect of their personalities.  I offer my writings not as a fully fledged expert in the field since the world is full of false gurus, but rather from the perspective of a failure in this arena who has discovered some of life’s truths from scratch through empirical trial and a lot of error.

 

Nik