So beginning on the first of this month I decided to take the 30 days of September to build a new habit. I was inspired by Matt Cutts from Google and his TED talk on trying something new for 30 days.
[ted id=1183]I am trying to say something nice to a complete stranger at least once a day for 30 days. It could be a friendly smile, wave and greeting as we pass by in the mall, I could compliment a waiter or waitress on their demeanor or I might tell someone in an elevator that they look quite nice today. I am doing this for 30 days for a couple of reasons: 1. I need to break out of my comfort zone a little bit, 2. I want to send a positive vibe by sharing positive conversations with others, with the hope that the recipient will pay it forward and 3. believe it or not, I’m a little shy when it comes to talking with strangers. I’m not comfortable talking on the phone and while I am good at filling “dead air” with random chatter, I’m not really that good at making small talk.
Five days into this challenge and I’m feeling I’m making progress. Just a few moments ago I waved to a man getting into his car simply because he had a SU jersey on. He waved back. I said “Go SU!”. I refrained from jumping up and doing a split in the parking lot because I didn’t want to ruin my work slacks. I’m not that much of a cheerleader anyways.
I’m thinking I like the idea of this 30 day challenge and I’m already thinking of what my challenge could be in October. I’m finding this challenge to inspiring.
And inspiration is always good.
I like the sound of this challenge. Anything that makes “us” better is good.
So far it’s going well for me. The other night I randomly asked a man where he got his hair cut and I offered that as a compliment. He seemed a little taken aback by it at first but then he was chatty for a few moments.