What are some easy ways for a guy to get over shyness?

I don’t think there exist easy ways to do that.
But if you’re prepared to invest some discomfort and plenty of time into it… I think it helps just to practise. Practise telling your social inhibitions to go bugger themselves.

You can start with something relatively easy. I use stranger chat on the internet; you can use it to practise talking to random strangers from the safe comfort of your own bedroom. I think it’s a good first step.

But this is a long term project. I’ve been getting over my shyness bit by bit over the course of years.

There may not be easy ways. Because eventually what it comes down to is walking up to the girl (or the other guy, if that’s the shy guy’s thing) and saying hello.

So my advice would be to take this ‘simplest’ way and… say hello. It’s still not so easy, but when you see that it won’t really hurt (much), then you can do it again… and again… etc.

Just saw this article the other day. Also, try some of these other ones.

Cocaine, but seriously, don’t take the easy way out.

Be yourself & don’t be afraid to fuck up. Most people are fallible & will forgive minor things.

Don’t be afraid to fuck up; think about it all in the grand scale of things.

Get laid Just go to school and don’t do drugs.

Face your fear and just suck it up and go for it. Remember it’s just a conversation, the only pressure is the pressure you put on yourself. Oh, and guess what, if you embarrass yourself wholly and completely, you’ll find out two very important life lessons, first no matter how bad it was it could’ve been worse and second it doesn’t actually matter. Have a laugh at yourself (another important skill) and try again and think of it this way, now you’ve got an amusing story to tell.

Imagine everyone else in the room has their fly unzipped and doesn’t know it.

@ganti_x89: work at it and work at it until it seems natural.

You could put on a suit and become a dog. It appears to work for @Fyrius. :-)

It’s a lifetime project as I well know. No easy ways, but you can start trying by initiating conversations, asking people questions and being really interested in their answers. If you can focus on reacting to them, instead of how they are reacting to you, you will endear yourself to them and start to get over your shyness. Also, try to put yourself in situations where you can exhibit your knowledge or talents and gain some confidence from the positive feedback you receive.

Intentionally/consciously act funny bordering on foolish… this way you know that you’re acting out and you can say that to the lady without really looking like a total loser. . . if alcohol helps lose the inhibition, by all means indulge without getting too wasted.

it’s all a matter of habit. right now you have a habit of being shy because of your vast experience as a shy person. you need to spend time defying shyness, gaining experience as someone who defies shyness. your habits will reflect the new information you teach yourself.

give yourself anti-shy experience and you will become less shy.

@ninjacolin is onto something.

Practice with strangers that you’ll never see again. Talk to people casually in a grocery store (cashiers are good, because they’re a captive audience and will smile at you as you say the stupidest things imaginable). Just start chatting about the weather with people at a bus stop.

It hardly matters what you say, as long as you get into the habit of ‘talking to people you don’t know.’ Then when you meet someone you’d really like to talk to, it’s just “more of the same.”

It ain’ no thang.

@CyanoticWasp but a chicken wang!

@CyanoticWasp thank you and your very sensible strategy for any of us who are feeling a little shy these days.

Close your mind.

Say what your need to.

(Believe it or not most times it is that simple.)

Shyness has become a habit. it didn’t happen overnight, neither will overcoming it. Start small. Make eye contact. Know what you want to say before you open your mouth. Keep it short. Add to your dialogue a bit at a time with people. success gets to be habit forming too. Good luck.

Do somthing super embarrassing, moon somone. then you’ll have no reason to be shy anymore.

Join a club that has similar interests to yours.

firstable congratulation for being shy because that itself is hot and rare now days, now just be socail with yourself and stop trying pleasing others becuase that leads to failure.

Cheers.

Practice being open with the people you trust most. Then move on to people you are friendly with and are friendly to you. Then practice with random strangers whom you’ll never meet again. I went though a period where I was shy but I didn’t like the result of people being able to push me around because I didn’t want to say anything or make a scene. Shyness is cute but not practical. So try to approach it from that point of view. You don’t want to be a door mat so learn to say what is on your mind.

I used to be shy, and I can pinpoint one thing for getting over it – I learned to sing, and started performing in public, in my local folk club. Public performance of any kind is a great way to counter shyness. If you can’t sing, why not get involved with a local drama group? If you can play a musical instrument, join a band.

@downtide
That’s true!
As another example of the same thing, a lot of classes I’ve taken required me to give presentations. One of them made me give a presentation in class once every two weeks.
I hated it initially, but getting the hang of that made me feel a lot more confident about my demeanour. Nowadays I don’t mind any more, as long as I know what I’m talking about.

Which is good, because this summer I’ll have to publicly defend my Master thesis. Which I reckon is tricky enough without being nervous about how I will come across.

@ganti_x89 Try taking a Toast Masters class.

@ganti_x89 @Fyrius had a great idea for Toast Masters: www.toastmasters.org. Find a local club that you would like to join. I’ve heard that you should try out 2–3 clubs before choosing.

Also, another site that will help you that is: http://networking-2020.com/s/
sign up for the free email, and this will give you other helpful resources for your “shyness”.

Make sure to keep a positive attitude! It’s difficult to not get down on yourself. But do recognize that it is difficult, and nothing good is easy to do!