Needless to say, I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging. I have no real good reason. If I were speaking to one of my coaching clients and they weren’t blogging on a regular basis, I would most likely remind them of their goals, blah blah. Last week while Midori and I were speaking to the MPI Greater Calgary Chapter, she told a few people to read my blog. I realized how embarrassing this was considering I had been on a writing hiatus. Well, that’s not entirely true, I have been writing for CVent’s Mobile Blog and invite you to check out some of my posts there. However, I am guilty as charged of neglecting my own blog.
This week I spent a lot of time talking to people about where to find topics to write about. I personally keep a running list in Evernote. As you can imagine, this list is very long. I get ideas from talking to people online, at meetings and even at the airport. Last week while waiting for my third flight of a long day, a man sat next to me and offered me chocolate. Yes, my parents taught me not to take candy from strangers, but he has a new box of See’s candies and he was nice. I took the chocolate and he started yapping away. Within minutes we were sharing photos of our most unique travel and adventures. I learned his kids played hockey and he had relocated to Calgary from LA. He was friendly. I was borderline cranky when he sat down. I was a bit tired and wasn’t feeling very social. However, this guy just wanted to be friendly and I appreciated that. On the plane he happened to be sitting next to me. He shared his box of candy with the flight attendants who were thrilled that someone was being so nice to them. He bought snacks and we shared them. Oh and there was NOTHING creepy about this guy. We talked about his wife and family. He told me he just likes to talk to people. It was refreshing.
As we sat there I thought to myself that there was a blog lesson in here. I was tired and worn out; he was friendly. The flight attendants were tired after a long day; he was friendly. When I appeared to lose steam, he stopped talking and let me sleep. When I got off the plane I was reminded of the impact that a friendly person can make on someone’s day. Mine, the flight attendants, probably anyone else that Jim met that day. This interaction was a good check-up for me. It made me realize the power of nice and how it can have far reaching effects.
So what is the moral of this story?
- Listen to your surroundings and find great content to share from everyday interactions.
- Nice goes a long way and sometimes we all need to be reminded of it.
- Chocolate fixes most everything.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope to be back more often sharing content about human interaction, technology, marketing and events. If I slack off again, feel free to give me a nudge. I’d love to hear from you.