their anxiety decreases and they obtain more practice interacting with others in the situ -
ations that they fear, their skills tend to improve over time. Following are some examples 
of areas where you may want to consider working on improving your skills. This may 
prove to be particularly helpful for situations that you have tended to avoid over the 
years and therefore may not have had the opportunity to learn some of the subtleties 
of navigating your way through the situation. For example, if you have never dated, you 
may need some practice before knowing how to ask someone out on a date to maximize 
your chances of a positive response. As you read through the examples, try to identify 
people skills that you may want to work on. There is space at the end of this section to 
record your responses.
Assertiveness.  Do you have difﬁculty being assertive? In other words, is it hard for you 
to say no if someone asks you to do something that you don’t want to do? Is it  difﬁcult 
to ask people to change their behavior if they are treating you unfairly or aren’t doing