Whether you are standing in a crowded room or one-on-one on a date, chances are you are hoping your sparkling personality and sharp brain will do the trick. In an ideal world, or a world where humans cease to have any shred of human instincts, this might be true. However, since we live in the real world, no one is ever going to really grasp your sparkling personality unless you invite him or her in to do so. How do you invite someone in? Get them to like you. People want to be around people they like. People want to talk to people they like. People also want people they like to like them. We humans are social creatures and thankfully getting someone to like you, at least initially, is fairly easy. If you understand the basic need for people to connect, you can use these easy tools to help get you noticed as a friendly and likeable person.
Forget about being interesting (for now) and focus on being interested.
Alfred Adler, a noted psychologist points out, “It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.”
When people first meet each other, the basis by which another person is judged is not how interesting a person finds another, but rather the opposite. It does not matter if you are the dullest nail in the box or more interesting than Richard Branson; focus on the other person if you want to be given the time of day.
Smile like you mean it. (I feel like I am channeling The Killers)
This is probably the easiest thing anyone can do to make friends. Really, how many scowling people do you meet and want to be around? Smiling will bring anyone to warm up to you. Remember, you have to enjoy and show that you enjoy meeting people if you expect them to ever enjoy meeting you.
What’s in a name?
The sound of someone’s name is one of the sweetest sounds anyone can hear. When was the last time you called someone by his or her name? In actual conversation? Can you think of times when someone called you that sweet sound? Use a person’s name from time to time. It is music to the ears.
Listen with both ears
This is a good pair to being interested. Encourage people to talk about themselves, their interests, their hopes, their desires, their vocations, etc. People form attachments based on how much they share with a person. The people I am closest to are the people I can open up to. The best friends I have are the one I have shared my private sides with. Encourage this behavior and listen sincerely when a person shares.
Make others feel more important than you
Everyone has within them a deep desire to feel important to others. However, one thing people always try to do when making friends is showing the other how important he or she is. This will have the opposite effect on people. They won’t find you important, they will find you arrogant or selfish. Be generous with the way you show others how important they are (sincerely) and you will be abundant with friends. Dale Carnegie called this the “All important law of human conduct.” If you stick with only one, stick to this.
Lil Bit Version
Smile. Focus on others. Listen. Enjoy.
Tags: communication, How To, like, people skills, self help, self improvement, Tools
It is a cliché to say that times are tough right now. This generation is facing road blocks, heartaches, uncertainty and what seems to be a complete lack of focus, direction or joy in the act of simply living in a loving environment. I truly believe 99% of the people in this world are good and yet we have grown accustomed to focusing on the negative, expecting the worse and losing site of our basic human instinct to connect and communicate with one another.
You would think that someone who encounters that 1% of evil would become more negative, but Jonathan Ehrlich reminds us that during this time of negativity and uncertainty, what matters and what is most important is remembering the glue that holds people together. His thoughts are truly inspiring and something I think everyone should read and watch below
Letter from Jonathan
Hey guys.
Got all your notes. Thank you. I’m ok. A little shaky to be honest but really just happy to be here. I can’t thank you enough for your notes. You have no idea what the mean to me. Hope to see and speak to you all soon.
I wrote the following on the plane.
It’s 3.33 am Thursday Nov 27th. And I am writing this from Jet Airways flight 0227, First leg of the Mumbai - Brussels - Toronto - Vancouver journey . It is a stream of “adrenaline” piece. I apologize in advance for the grammatical errors. But I wanted it raw and unedited.
First, some context.
I have always been truly blessed. Lucky to be born to the most love a child could ever wish for. Luck to be born into a family that prided itself on teaching me how to be a man. Lucky to have been protected and sheltered by three strong, decent brothers. Lucky to have found and married the kindest heart on the face of the earth. Lucky to be blessed beyond blessed with four healthy, beautiful children. Lucky to have wonderful friends who tolerate my idiosyncrasies.
Tonight, these blessings, these gifts of love and life bestowed upon me, this incredible good fortune, saved my life. And I honestly don’t know why.
The details.
I am in Mumbai on business. I’m staying at the Trident hotel. It’s sister hotel, the Oberoi, is right next-door and attached by a small walkway.
I had dinner by myself in the Oberoi lobby after some late meetings. I retired upstairs to my room. About 10min later my colleague, Alex Chamerlin, text-ed asking me to join him and his friend in the Oberoi lounge for a drink. I started to make my way out the door but decided that I was really too tired. I had a 7am flight, and needed to be up at 5. Rest beckoned. I closed the light, got into bed and quickly fell asleep. Lucky life-saving decision number 1.
About 1hr later there was knock at my door. A few seconds later, the doorbell rang (they have doorbells for hotel rooms here - who’da thunk?). I thought - who the hell is knocking at my door? Turn down service? This late? Forget it. So I just lay there and hoped they would go away. Lucky life-saving decision number 2.
Five minutes later I heard and felt a huge bang. I got up and went to look out the window. A huge cloud of grey smoke billowed up from the road below. I thought. Fireworks? I didn’t see anyone milling about so knew something wasn’t right. I started to walk to the light switch when - BANG - another huge explosion shook the entire hotel.
Oh fuck, I thought. Is that what I think this is? I opened the door to the hallway. A few people were already outside.
I heard the word “bomb”.
Oh shit. Oh shit I thought. I’d like to tell you that I calmly collected my myself and my things and proceeded to the exits. I didn’t. An adrenaline explosion erupted inside me and almost lifted me off the floor. And I began to move. Really move. I went back inside, quickly packed my stuff and went back into the hall.
I ran to the emergency exit and started making my way down the stairs (I was on the 18th floor). There were a few people in the stairwell. I was flying by them. I swear I could have run a marathon in 2hrs. I felt like pure energy.
About halfway down, I called my friend Mark, told him what had happened and asked him to get me a flight - any flight - the hell out of Mumbai. I got to the lobby level. There was a crowd of people in the corridor. No one moving. No one doing anything. No hotel staff. No security people.
Shit. I thought. We are sitting ducks.
I decided to get out of there. First, into the lobby. I stepped through the door into the silent lobby. My first sight was a blood soaked plastic bag and bloody footsteps leading into the reception area. I proceeded forward. The windows were shattered and glass was everywhere. There wasn’t a soul around.
Bad decision, I thought. I quickly retreated to the corridor. The crowd of people had grown. We’ve got to get out of here I yelled. Let’s go. I looked around for the emergency exit and started running towards it.
I made my way through the bowels of the hotel and out into a dark alley. It was empty and silent. I looked to my left and about 100m away saw a few security guards milling about.
Run they screamed. I began to move toward them. I reached the main street and was immediately swept up into the Indian throngs (for those who have been to Mumbai, you know what I mean). People everywhere. But they were all eerily quiet. No one was talking. No car horns. Nothing.
I started yelling “airport airport”.
Some one (a hotel cook I believe) grabbed me and my bag and threw me in a rusty mini-cab. As I sped away, I didn’t see a single police car nor hear a single siren. Just the sound of this shit-box car speeding down the deserted road.
Traffic was stop and go. I made it to the airport in about 1hr, cleared customs and buried myself in a corner of a packed departure lounge, called my wife, called my parents and brothers and started emailing those friends who knew I was in Mumbai.
Sadly, Alex - my colleague who texted me for a drink - and his friend were not so lucky. The terrorists stormed into the lobby bar and killed several people. They took Alex and his friend hostage and started to march them up to the roof of the hotel.
About half way up, Alex managed to escape (he ducked through an open door and hid) but his friend was caught. And as I write this, that poor man is still on the roof of the Oberai.
Alex is safe but as expected, extremely worried about his friend. I’m telling you right now. If I decided to meet Alex for that drink tonight I’d either be dead, a hostage on the roof of a building 30 hours away from everyone I love or - if I had the balls of Alex - a stupid-but-lucky- to-be-alive jerk.
And remember that knock/ring at my door? Well, I subsequently learned that the first thing the terrorists did was get the names and room numbers of western guests. They then went to the rooms to find them. Ehrlich, with an E, room 1820. I’ll bet my entire life savings that they were the knock at my door.
Thank god for jet lag.
Thank god for “cranky tired Jonny” (as many of my friends and family know so well) that compelled to get into and stay in bed. Thank god for being on the 18th floor. Thank god for the kind kind people of Mumbai of helped me tonight. The wonderfully kind hotel staff. That cook. My cab driver who constantly said “relaxation” “relaxation” “I help” and who kept me in the cab when we hit a particularly gnarly traffic jam and i wanted to get out and walk. And for other people in traffic who, upon hearing from my own cab driver that I was at the Oberai, literally risked life and limb to stop traffic to let us get by (as again, only those who have been to Mumbai can truly appreciate).
Mumbai is a tragically beautiful place. Incredibly sad. But I am convinced that its inhabitants are definitely children of some troubled but immensely soulfully god.
I’m sitting on plane (upgraded to first class..see, told you I’m lucky ?). Just had the best tasting bowl of corn flakes I’ve ever had in my life. Hennessey coursing through my veins. Concentration starting to loosen and sleep beginning to creep onto my horizon. I still feel a bit numb. But mostly I feel like I’ve just watched a really really bad movie staring me. Because right now, it all doesn’t feel real. Maybe a few hours of CNN will knock me into reality. But the truth is numb is fine with me for a while. If I do end up thinking about the what if’s, I don’t really want to do that until I’m much much closer to home. And I have 30 more hours of travel time to go.
But before I sign off, let me say this.
The people who did this have no souls. They have no hearts. They are simply the living manifestation of evil and they only know killing and murder. We - all of us - need to understand that. Their target tonight was first and foremost Americans. Why? Because they fear everything that America stands for. They fear hope and change and freedom and peace. Let’s make no mistake; they would have shot me and my children point blank tonight with out a moment’s hesitation. Most of us sorta know that but sometimes we equivocate. We can’t equivocate. Not ever.
I know that I want to go back. Lay some flowers. Wrap my arms around these people. Say thank you. Spend some money on overpriced hotel gifts and tip well. And generally give the bastards who did this the big fuck you and show them that I am not - I repeat not - afraid of them.
But first I need to go squeeze my wife. Dry her tears. Then have her dry mine as I hold my beautiful beautiful babies who will be (thankfully) oblivious to all of this. Because isn’t that what life is really about?
I appreciate you taking the time to listen.
With much much love.
Jonathan
Tags: appreciation, death, importance, life, love, mumbai, survivor, terrorists
One of the easiest ways to draw conclusions about an individual in order to formulate a communicative scenario that works best for him or her, it is important to understand and be able to recognize the void. Let’s be honest here, knowing someone’s weakness or void can be used for evil (inset evil laughter here) but since I am an idealist I am going to assume that knowing someone’s void is solely used to a) understand others’ behavior and motivations and b) realize that everyone tries project him or herself to the public as one who holds no weakness or void (read: feel better, we all feel like we lack something).
What is the void?
People’s personalities, desires, egos, wants and needs are much more fragile than they appear to be. In public a mask is worn and most are very good at projecting that mask as their real self. What that mask covers up, is the void. The feelings people have that contribute to low self-esteem, things people feel they lack and are missing, desires left unfulfilled, all make up the void. Essentially the void is someone’s vulnerability.
Are voids a weakness?
No. Everyone has something they feel they lack. It is not a weakness, not should it feel like one.
How to learn a person’s void
While it may take a while or a few interactions in various situations to learn what a person’s void is, the following tips can help you along the way.
Me thinks thou dost protest too much
Shakespeare was on to something. One of the easiest and most telling ways someone will reveal his or her void is through what they either confirm or deny often. The reason for this lies in the truth that what someone truly believes is real, they don’t feel the need to talk about all the time. Talking about something all of the time is meant to convince one’s self as well as others. What do we mean by often?
Example – You have a friend who tells you all the time how awesome his or her life is. Everything is great. Money is pouring in and naked people are always at beck and call.
Example – Opinions are like ass holes, everyone has got them. An opinion is great. But pay attention to how often someone voices his or her opinion. Remember the opinion may not be the void, but rather the underlying feeling the opinion may bring. Someone constantly voicing their opinion against money (for example) can mean they may have a void around money.
The advice they seek and questions they ask
We have all heard the adage, “Advice is what we seek when we know the answer but wish we didn’t.” I must say this is my biggest tell. Anyone can notice those days I feel less than pretty because I find myself seeking reassurance. On days I feel less than smart I seek validation. If you notice someone asking you advice or seeking reassurance, just give it to him or her…it won’t hurt anyone.
The company they keep
Pay attention to the company one keeps. Someone who may feel a lack of status may choose to only hang out with those that hold it. Someone who is depressed tends to hang out with other depressed people. Someone who feels he or she lack dominance may try to dominate in the situations with people he or she hangs out with. Pay attention to the surroundings of others and you can see a lot of voids.
It is important to know that voids or a feeling of lack are not a weakness. Not one single person on this earth feels truly fulfilled. Humans are designed to want more, to desire things and to seek improvement. Voids are simply something you can use as a tool to better understand those around you.
Tags: behaviors, desires, lack, motivations, understanding, voids
You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
In a perfect world this may be true, but recently I seem to have noticed that many people think having someone do you a favor is a sign of weakness. Society has become so independent from one another that accepting favors and help is seen as weak and doing favors breeds such phrases as “doormat.”
What a load of horse poop!
I run into people and conversations every day where one person feels guilty for accepting a favor and another feels like if they offer or say yes to a favor then they are weak or being taken advantage of.
Lets be honest here, we are human beings who rely on others (no matter how hard we try to fight it) to survive. We can try to be independent but all that really turns us into is a sad little monkey with a thousand pounds of weight on our shoulders. Social creatures that we are, we need to come to terms that, in order to make it we just can’t do it alone. It may be a hard thing to come to terms with but starting with something small, like giving and receiving favors, can have a big impact.
Guidelines for favors
- Unless it is impossible for you to do so, do a favor whenever it is asked of you. Often doing favors is inconvenient. It may take time out of your day. To that I say, who cares.
- Unless it is impossible for you to do so, offer favors when it is not asked of you. Give favors even when someone objects to it
- Unless it is impossible for you to do so, ask for a favor if you need it. In addition, ask for a favor if you want it.
- Doing favors actually makes people feel good. That’s right. When you do favors for another, you feel better about yourself.
- When asking for a favor, don’t be vague. Give a deadline.
“I was wondering if you could help me install my entertainment system this Sunday”
Instead of
“I was wondering if you could help me install some stuff sometime”
- Don’t expect anything in return. All it does is set you up for disappointment.
- Do favors for people you like and trust, and do them often. You become a person people like and trust.
Life got ya down?
Sometimes when we are depressed about life, whether it is our job, our bank accounts, our surroundings or our people, nothing seems to work in trying to make us feel better. It can become so bad that we cringe and practically hit a friend when they attempt to cheer us up by saying, “Well its not so bad. Look at all the great things in your life to be happy about.” (ewwww).
When you got the blues and the clouds make everything look grey, nothing, even a perky friend you want to slap, can make you feel better.
Except things can. There is are easy ways to feel better (unless you have PMS in which case, tough shit just ride it out).
First thing you can do is cry, scream, and shout or punch a pillow. Letting your feelings boil under the surface will just make you explode later on. Give yourself an allotted amount of time (say 30 minutes). During those 30 minutes you are allowed to feel as shitty as you want to feel. You can cry, punch things and yell if you wish. Just stick to the 30 minutes. When the time is up, give yourself some tough love and get to the feeling better part.
Some tips to help you along.
- Put on a very funny movie. Laughter releases endorphins, which is like the best drug ever…only it’s not bad for you.
- Take a 15-minute walk somewhere pretty.
- Make a list of 10 things, people and stuff you have that make you happy.
- Daydream about a happy memory for a few minutes.
- Pet your pet. Don’t have a pet? You can borrow mine.
- Put on some music and dance around. (Just don’t put on Radiohead or any music to slit your wrists to).
- Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself everything is going to be ok. Positive affirmations work.
- Give a gift to someone. Studies have shown that giving brings more happiness than receiving.
- Call your parents. Ok, they may drive us crazy some (or all) of the time. But when push comes to shove, they tend to give us that spoiled unconditional love we all need. This goes for grandparents, brothers, sisters and your favorite aunt.
- Get a hug. Don’t tell me you have no one to give you a hug, because someone will and wants to.
If nothing else works, just remember feeling bad is a temporary feeling. Bad days, down days and down right shitty days are a part of life. Just try to remember that even though you have to crawl through all that poop, there is a shower waiting on the other end to clean you off when it’s all over!
Got any tips you use to help you feel better? Share them with us!
Tags: bad days, feeling better, feeling good, good mood, mood, tips to feel good
When your head is full of things you need to do, this small little tool will save you time, sanity and bruises caused by bashing your head against the wall.
My life does not only consist of work (and trying to find it while working). I have the cat and laundry and a swifter wet jet and cooking and reading and working out (wishful thinking) and a boyfriend whom I like to hang out with while not doing laundry or the swifter wet jet and the occasional vacation (I am spoiled with travel), snowboard day and lazy Sunday with the girls.
If you managed to read through that without taking a breath, good for you!
Life can be overwhelming at times and, if you are like me, you can find yourself forgetting to take a breather or even to pee (it can happen), but a simple tool exists to rectify this issue and if done right, can save you loads of time so you have more of said time to be a lazy ass and watch CSI reruns for an entire Saturday.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Notebook.*
The Notebook* is a small ruled book I carry with me everywhere. At the top I put a date and underneath it, everything I need to do that day. This includes work, chores, free time (yes I schedule free time - OCD alert!), and even what I plan to cook for dinner. Every time I get something done on the list I mark an X next to the item (on very stressful days I just cross the entire damn thing out because it feels so good). If I don’t get something done that day, it goes on the list for the next day.
That’s it.
That is my productivity secret. An old school notebook to do list that uses rollover-todo-technology (patent pending). Shockingly easy.
Why it works
- It clears your head to write things down.
- You spend less time trying to remember what you need to do
- It helps you plan better .
- It increases your chances of getting things done and off your list.
- It helps you hold yourself accountable.
- It is a small tool for big organization.
Tips for Your Notebook*
- Choose a good sturdy notebook. I like Moleskine notebooks
. They are exquisite in every way. I use them for everything. They last forever and Hemingway used them to write (so cool).
- Some find it helpful to draw a box to the left of each item. This is the box that will be checked when something gets done.
- Don’t let your list get longer than a full page. If it is longer than a full page, you have issues bigger than my own.
- Don’t freak out if you don’t get everything done in a day. It is ok to not get it all done. I aim for 60% (but you don’t even have to pick a percentage).
- One day a week, hide your notebook and let yourself watch Sex and the City, sleep in and rebel against the notebook.
I know this sounds too easy. Trust me, I have tried every time management and productivity tool out there. This is the only one that has actually worked in the long term.
As they say (somewhere, someone says this), the simplest solutions tend to be the right ones.
*not the movie with the hot romantic guy. (swoon)
Tags: improving, moleskine, notebooks, self improvement, time management, to do
Really, it is more like an I Heart You, I Luv Ya, Ditto type of world isn’t it?
I doubt I will have a very successful time convincing someone to write a love letter with a feather tip and wax seal, but a typed one or emailed one couldn’t hurt anyone. Actually, it will most likely make someone’s day, including your own. Everyone has a loved one, your boyfriend, husband, wife, mother, father, brother or good friend - find someone to write to!
Love letters have historically been a confession of deep longing and desire as men and women found themselves separated by distance only traveled by boat or horse carriage. Often it was even to a mistress who had to receive a love letter in order to maintain her position as a lady in waiting. Fortunately, we are no longer surrounded by distance that cannot be traveled or circumstances that cannot be rectified. However, that shouldn’t mean love letters should fall by the wayside.
Three reasons love letters are awesome
- It is easy to express yourself with written words and harder with spoken words.
- Everyone loves receiving them.
- It may get you laid.
Tips for writing the best love letter.
- Always begin your love letter with a greeting.
- Make it personal. If you are a very funny person, feel free to joke around. Sounded like a Don Juan may seem comical and insincere if you are not normally a Don Juan.
- It does not need to be long unless there is a great physical distance between the sender and receiver.
- Don’t be phony with your feelings - be honest even if it sounds cheesy. Don’t just state things you think the receiver wants to hear. Honesty is key. (unless you detest the person but in that case, don’t write a love letter!).
- You can talk about fond memories you have of this person and how it made you feel. “I remember when…”
- You can talk about thoughts and ideas for now and the future.
- You can even talk metaphors and poetry if that is your wish.
- Humor combined with mushy gushy stuff is awesome.
- Try to keep the language nice. “I fuckin love you man!”
- If you are stating things you love about the person or things the person does that pleases you, take his or her feelings into account if it may embarrass. For example, saying “I even love how you fart in your sleep” may not be the best idea.
- Clichés are so cliché.
- If you are handwriting your letter, put it on nice sturdy paper. The recipient will most likely keep it for years.
- Always end your love letter with a good closer.
- If you find yourself completely stuck and think I am ridiculous and, dare I say one of those crazy girls, then stick to the basics: Hi, I love you because…Love Bob.
Samples to help you out
For the Jokster - Lewis Carroll
Christ Church, Oxford, October 28, 1876
My Dearest Gertrude:
You will be sorry, and surprised, and puzzled, to hear what a queer illness I have had ever since you went. I sent for the doctor, and said, “Give me some medicine. for I’m tired.” He said, “Nonsense and stuff! You don’t want medicine: go to bed!” I said, “No; it isn’t the sort of tiredness that wants bed.
I’m tired in the face.” He looked a little grave, and said, “Oh, it’s your nose that’s tired: a person often talks too much when he thinks he knows a great deal.” I said, “No, it isn’t the nose. Perhaps it’s the hair.” Then he looked rather grave, and said, “Now I understand: you’ve been playing too many hairs on the pianoforte.”
“No, indeed I haven’t!” I said, “and it isn’t exactly the hair: it’s more about the nose and chin.” Then he looked a good deal graver, and said, “Have you been walking much on your chin lately?” I said, “No.” “Well!” he said, “it puzzles me very much.
Do you think it’s in the lips?” “Of course!” I said. “That’s exactly what it is!” Then he looked very grave indeed, and said, “I think you must have been giving too many kisses.” “Well,” I said, “I did give one kiss to a baby child, a little friend of mine.”
“Think again,” he said; “are you sure it was only one?” I thought again, and said, “Perhaps it was eleven times.” Then the doctor said, “You must not give her any more till your lips are quite rested again.” “But what am I to do?” I said, “because you see, I owe her a hundred and eighty-two more.” Then he looked so grave that tears ran down his cheeks, and he said, “You may send them to her in a box.”
Then I remembered a little box that I once bought at Dover, and thought I would someday give it to some little girl or other. So I have packed them all in it very carefully. Tell me if they come safe or if any are lost on the way.”
Lewis Carroll
For the Romantic - I give you Napoleon
Paris, December 1795
I wake filled with thoughts of you.
Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil.
Sweet, incomparable Josephine, with a strange effect you have on my heart! Are you angry? Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried?…My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for your lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives! You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours.
until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.
Tags: how to write love letters, love, love letters, romance, tinylitlebit
The World Wildlife Fund has long been a favorite organization because it focuses on the animals. Who here does not have a soft spot for animals? Anyone? Yeah, thought so.
I remember walking around the San Diego Zoo a bit ago, speechless as the site of so many creatures currently labeled “at risk” or “endangered”. The many Zooological/ animal rescue foundations are doing all that they can to help habitats of these animals, but I highly doubt it is near enough.
Fortunately, organizations like The World Wildlife Fund offer ways that we can help, without digging into grocery money or our 401k.
Currently the WWF has introduced the Rescue Team in their effort to help the habitats of polar bears and other species, all in danger due to rising global temperatures near the ice caps.
For as little as $16 bucks a month (about four lattes or two alcoholic beverages) you can directly contribute to the polar habitats and help this little one
(ok seriously look at his face!)
Noah Wyle is the resident celebrity spokesperson for the Wildlife Rescue Team project. He has long been an advocate for charitable contributions and he speaks about the project here in length.
If you are able to help and it does not break your bank account, I highly recommend joining the team. You can choose your monthly gift (and they even have some nifty SWAG!), and are under no obligation to continue if you wish to cancel your pledge.
Click here to read more about the WWF Rescue Team.
Tags: animal rescue, charity, Noah Wyle, polar bears, tinylittlebit, World Wildlife Fund, WWF
Take a moment to go outside for 15 minutes and watch the sunset. Take a picture if it is awesome. If it is anywhere where you can see the green flash, you better show me. If it sucks…well tough shit try again tomorrow!
Tags: fun, happy, sunset, tinylittlebit
Check and see if the guy opens the door for you. Small gesture. Big telling sign.
Open the door for the elderly. Just do it.
Never snap your fingers at the waiter. They are not servants.
Try not to yell at the customer service representative. It is shooting the messenger.
Always tip 18 – 20%- 25% at a nice restaurant. Don’t double the tax. Especially if you had alcohol. (alcohol is not taxed so you will under-tip.)
Don’t talk on your cell phone in line.
Applying lip-gloss in public is ok. But go to the restroom to apply anything else.
Treat everyone with respect, unless they prove that they cannot be respected.
Shake hands when being introduced to someone.
Remember birthdays and anniversaries. Very important.
Remember the Law of Reciprocity
Say “please” and “thank you” to the waiter, it goes a long way.
At the grocery store, if you have a lot and the person behind you has very few, let them go ahead of you.
In the ladies room, let the pregnant woman go ahead of you if there is a line.
When you get into an elevator and are standing near the buttons, ask the other patrons what floor they would like to go to and push the button for them.
Silverware – Start from the outside going in.
Try your hardest not to fart in the elevator.
Always end emails, phone conversations, face conversations and instant messages with a proper ending. I.E Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you, love you, have a great day, see ya soon, ttfn, etc. etc.
Accept gifts and compliments with a thank you. Rejecting a gift or a compliment is like rejecting that person who gives it or calling him/her a liar.
If a friend has a giant pimple, don’t point it out and ask how it feels - trust me they know it is there.
If you do happen to fart in the elevator…well really there is no advice here
What are some of the things you all follow?
Tags: life rules, rules, tinylittlebit
