I started relationships at the age of 24, I was really impressed how easy it was for me. I always thought I was some kind of nerd loser, which I still feel I am

I started relationships at the age of 24, I was really impressed how easy it was for me. I always thought I was some kind of nerd loser, which I still feel I am. During all my life my method was always to slowly ask personal questions and "open up" people, let them talk about themselves, their job and skills. What people love is to let them talk about their problems, without criticizing them about it. I think I learned that from therapy. Once you do that, people are hooked and it's a pretty good way to learn about them. It's not manipulative as long as you don't exploit it against them or for your interest, which is really evil (and they will notice it very quickly). Then of course, you should always open up yourself if the person opened up to you, and that can be difficult, generally you should talk about yourself without necessarily waiting for the other person to ask. I always felt those things were kind of manipulative, but I asked and it seems they're not.