We all want people to like us. And Ellen Degeneres seems to have that down to a science.

Ellen Degeneres is one of the most likable hosts on TV. And it’s largely due to the types of jokes that she makes. Almost all hosts are funny, but Ellen’s style of comedy has a way of instantly endearing her guests to her.

Today we are going to talk about the most common types of jokes that Ellen makes, how you can use them to get people to immediately like you, and some habits that you can work on to just generally be funnier throughout your day.

Ellen DeGeneres is one of the most
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likable hosts on television and it’s
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largely due to the types of jokes that
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she makes almost every host is funny but
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Ellen’s style of comedy has a way of
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instantly endearing her guests to her so
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today we’re going to talk about the most
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common types of jokes that Ellen makes
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how you can use those jokes to get
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people to immediately like you and some
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habits that you can work on to generally
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be funnier and more positive throughout
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your day so let’s start with the obvious
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since Ellen is at her core a comedian
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her jokes here’s an example of a typical
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joke that Ellen might crack we could
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talk about Ellen style of understated
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humor and how that’s different from
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someone like Jim Carrey but what’s most
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important here is to note that Ellen’s
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jokes don’t hurt anyone so often when
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the people in our lives crack jokes the
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room laughs but someone there feels
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crappy that person is the butt of the
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joke for an example of this check out
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one of the few times that I saw Ellen
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actually make a joke at someone’s
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expense the most amazing liza Minnelli
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impersonator x’ i have ever seen in my
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entire life just really seriously
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good job sir I mean that is really
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[Applause]
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you can tell by the grimace that Liza
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Minnelli doesn’t feel particularly good
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about that joke now luckily Ellen
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doesn’t crack that type of joke often
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but it does serve as a good reminder
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consistently making jokes where there is
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a loser might make people laugh in the
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moment but it’s going to alienate
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someone and if you do that often enough
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you’re going to alienate most everyone
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and that’s good to keep in mind because
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that’s how a lot of us are especially
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with our friends let’s look at what
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Ellen does instead first off she makes
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herself the butt of some of her jokes
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often comparing herself unfavorably to
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her guests
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this is classic self-deprecating humor
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and it’s what was going on in that first
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Rihanna clip the same thing is going on
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here where Ellen jokes about how similar
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she is to Malala if you don’t know who
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Malala is she won the Nobel Peace Prize
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at age 17 making her the youngest
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recipient ever we warned them to take
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action we wanted them to do something
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and it’s the important that you
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highlight it to them yes exactly 18
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years old I was very similar to this an
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important side note is that when we’re
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breaking down a joke the literal words
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are less important than the subtext
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because the subtext is often opposite to
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what someone is literally saying that’s
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what makes it a joke for example Ellen’s
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words said that she is like Malala but
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we all understand the subtext to be that
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Ellen was nothing like Malala at age 18
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we also understand that to be a
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compliment she’s saying how mature and
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inspiring Malala is at only 18 years old
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here’s another example of a different
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joke see if you can identify this
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subtext here
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yeah I was like come on yeah having fun
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with it there’s no words to this joke
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but the subtext might be something like
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jennifer is sick and I don’t want her to
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touch me now this joke is technically at
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Jennifer Lopez’s expense after all not
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wanting her to touch you is in the
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subtext but this particular joke is
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harmless it’s not going to alienate
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anybody because most people are not
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insecure about being sick why well as a
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rule of thumb people are unlikely to be
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insecure about things that are either
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temporary common or not core to their
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identity they are likely to be more
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insecure about things that are permanent
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uncommon or core to their identity so
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this joke works and doesn’t upset
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anybody because even though JLo is the
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butt of it it’s not something that JLo
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is likely to get upset about you can
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call this type of joke poking fun so
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let’s check out another joke with the
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same kind of structure and again see if
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you can identify the subtext I mean Amy
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Adams you went to college right the
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subtext the first bit is that Amy didn’t
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go to college
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and again this falls into the category
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of poking fun it’s something that she’s
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unlikely to be insecure about because
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she is a wildly successful actress now
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this is important if she had not yet
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made it and was seriously doubting
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whether or not she had made the right
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choice to skip college this joke might
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have stung it might have upset her
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identity and in that case it would have
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been a bad idea so context matters
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there’s also a second joke that Ellen
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cracks the subtext of the second one was
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that Amy is nominated twice for an Oscar
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that’s actually a subtext that builds
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her up here that one is really quickly
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you’re an amazing actress you’re not not
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one but two nominated films tonight you
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were in that’s just
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that is so what is the word for it
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selfish I guess this is the gold
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standard of jokes that create instant
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likability you can call them ego
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boosters because when you make people
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laugh while commenting on how successful
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good-looking kind or likable they are
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they will immediately like you and want
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to spend more time around you so
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reflecting back on a time that you
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recently made people laugh ask yourself
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what kinds of jokes were you making
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were they self-deprecating poking fun
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ego boosters or were you making jokes
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that had a loser it’s important to know
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because the first three tend to improve
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relationships while jokes that have
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losers can actually be damaging to those
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relationships and if you’re stumped it’s
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possible that your jokes fall into a
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category of jokes that are just silly
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these are jokes that make people laugh
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simply because they’re surprised to them
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for example you might have a play on
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words like this one amazing performance
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in 12 years of slave
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she is from Kenya she has a Kenyan and
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barkhad Abdi is here he is Somalia he is
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a Somali ace
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so he knows a lot about wine and that is
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or it could be just a random surprise
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like walking up behind someone while
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they’re rehearsing and making a bunch of
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noise or simply making something
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preposterous up like Ellen does with
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Will Smith when she tells him that he
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has to finish hosting the Oscars for her
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we have opportunities to make these kind
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of silly jokes all day long but I
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noticed that very few people actually do
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most people move through life on a kind
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of literal autopilot even though we
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usually all laugh when people are silly
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with us so the big question is if Celia
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is so much fun why is it so difficult
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for some people and so easy for others
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why do some people always give the
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boring literal answer while others have
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an easier time being playful
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Ellen provides a few clues which you can
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incorporate into your own life and these
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might seem random but a lot of the goofy
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things that she does on her show prime
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her to be playful for the rest of the
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day for instance there’s the mint toss
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at the beginning of a show where she
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Chuck’s a mint in the air and tries to
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catch it or not and because you make it
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look crazy easy
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it’s insane I’ve tried it before and is
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not as easy as you know and I don’t even
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know why I started that I just kind of
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love to have fun and it’s sometimes I
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think why am I doing that I walk out and
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throw a mint in the air and it’s sort of
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just a challenge for myself just to kind
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of start in a playful mood there’s the
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constant dancing scene goofing off which
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is something her show has become famous
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for
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[Applause]
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and of course the games that she plays
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with their guests it was actually Ellen
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and her team that made the heads up app
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which was one of the most popular apps
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in the world for a while honestly Ellen
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has the support of a talk show and a
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team to make all of these games into a
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larger-than-life reality but you can
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incorporate the lessons that Ellen gives
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into your own life and those will help
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make you more playful on a day to day
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basis
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first find a simple ritual like the min
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toss that makes you smile do it at the
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beginning of your day or prior to
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walking into any interaction second move
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your body
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you can literally dance I’ve talked
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about this in tons of other videos which
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I’m going to link to but just trust me
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the more expressive you are in your
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movements the funnier and more positive
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you’re going to be in your conversations
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and then third find a way to bring
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actual games into your interactions I
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admit you cannot always do this in a
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professional environment but in the
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social world you can whip out the
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heads-up app on your phone if you find a
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conversation turning boring I know it
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might sound silly but one round of that
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and it is amazing how people brighten up
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and open up conversationally the point
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is make sure to prime yourself to be
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playful it’s because Ellen has created a
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lifestyle that makes her more fun and
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positive all the time that she makes a
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really incredible first impression but
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of course fun isn’t the only piece you
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need if you want to consistently make a
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great first impression
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there are four emotions that you want to
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hit in order most people totally get the
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order wrong even if they do hit the
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emotions which is why they don’t always
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make a great first impression if you’re
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curious about those four emotions and
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more importantly what order you need to
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hit them in go ahead now and click the
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screen it’s going to take you to another
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page where you drop your email and you
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can get access to a video that’s going
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to show you those emotions and the order
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that you need to hit them in so you can
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use it today also if you haven’t done so
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and I look forward to seeing you in the
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next one