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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to send birthday wishes. Well. Many people don't

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Speaker 1: like a big public fuss about their birthdays. Few people

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Speaker 1: wouldn't appreciate a personal note marking the occasion, and since

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Speaker 1: it is very easy to send a note, you should

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Speaker 1: go ahead and do it now. I will admit that

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Speaker 1: this episode is a wee bit self serving as it

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Speaker 1: is first airing on my birthday. But all of us

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Speaker 1: celebrate a birthday every single year, which means that there

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Speaker 1: is at least one opportunity to reach out to everyone

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Speaker 1: you know each year to say something nice and appreciative.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of us have gotten a bit

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Speaker 1: sloppy about this. In the social media era, Facebook and

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Speaker 1: some other platforms will tell you that someone has a

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Speaker 1: birthday coming up, which is helpful as a reminder, but

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Speaker 1: then most of us just post a happy birthday on

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Speaker 1: someone's feed and leave it at that. It is something,

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Speaker 1: but we could probably do better. If you do know

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Speaker 1: someone's birthday or you are being reminded of it on

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Speaker 1: social media, chances are you also know that person's email address, so,

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Speaker 1: in addition to any social media wishes, or in place

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Speaker 1: of them, send a personal note wishing the person a

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Speaker 1: happy birthday. It doesn't have to be long. You can

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Speaker 1: simply send them good wishes, recall a happy memory from

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Speaker 1: the last year, or say something you admire about the person,

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Speaker 1: Say something you are looking forward to together in the

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Speaker 1: upcoming year. Then wish them many wonderful birthdays to come,

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Speaker 1: and sign off. It is as simple as that. This

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Speaker 1: will take less than five minutes. It might just take

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Speaker 1: two or three, and it will almost certainly be read

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Speaker 1: and appreciated if you know the person's mailing address. This

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Speaker 1: is a nice touch too to send a card. If

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Speaker 1: it does require a wee bit more planning as you

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Speaker 1: want the card to arrive, buy the person's birthday, but

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Speaker 1: it doesn't take that much planning. If you put the

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Speaker 1: card in the mail three to four days before the

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Speaker 1: special day, that should be sufficient for most places. I'd

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Speaker 1: recommend buying a pack of blank cards so you don't

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Speaker 1: have to go hunting for birthday specific cards, which can

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Speaker 1: be overpriced or corny. You can often buy quite nice

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Speaker 1: blank stationary for less than a dollar a card. When

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Speaker 1: you buy in bulk. If you've got the cards and

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Speaker 1: you've got stamps, then you are almost always good to go.

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Speaker 1: You can obviously send a text too, as long as

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Speaker 1: you follow the email guidelines. A simple happy Birthday is nice,

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Speaker 1: but a bonus statement or two about the person makes

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Speaker 1: the wishes extra special, and it really doesn't need to

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Speaker 1: take more than a few seconds. You can do this,

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Speaker 1: or here's an idea, call the person. I know that

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Speaker 1: many people shy away from using the phone as a

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Speaker 1: phone these days, but if you talk with the birthday

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Speaker 1: boy or girl at other points in the year, a

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Speaker 1: short call on their birthday will make them smile. Now again,

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Speaker 1: I know a lot of people don't like public fuss.

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Speaker 1: If you are going to throw a surprise party or

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Speaker 1: rope fifty people into singing Happy Birthday, make sure the

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Speaker 1: birthday celebrate is the sort of person who goes for that,

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Speaker 1: And if they do, that's great. If not, a card

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Speaker 1: or a call is never going to be offensive, so

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Speaker 1: you know you can do that. If you are unsure

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Speaker 1: of people's birthdays, it doesn't hurt to just ask. It's

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Speaker 1: okay to reach out if you know them well enough

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Speaker 1: that you'd be sending birthday wishes. It's fine to just

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Speaker 1: ask the next time you're talking, say you're making a file.

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Speaker 1: If it's awkward, like you've known the person for ten years,

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Speaker 1: or it's a family member and you've just forgotten, maybe

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Speaker 1: be discreet about it. But you can probably do a

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Speaker 1: little slothing and figure it out and then once you know,

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Speaker 1: mark it on a recurring calendar and you will be

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Speaker 1: able to celebrate every year. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then

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Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.

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Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. Mm hmm,