Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that if you want to liven up a conversation,
Speaker 1: ask for low stakes hot takes. Get people talking about
Speaker 1: things they feel passionate about but that aren't all that
Speaker 1: important in the grand scheme of things, and you will
Speaker 1: probably be chatting for hours. Now. When it comes to
Speaker 1: social gatherings, I do not promote hot takes in general.
Speaker 1: A hot take is basically defined as a quick commentary
Speaker 1: on something that is designed to attract attention. Content that
Speaker 1: is high on intensity and low on rigor, which a
Speaker 1: lot of immediate reactions are can quickly go awry. But
Speaker 1: I love the idea of a low stakes hot take,
Speaker 1: as I heard someone recently refer to this idea. The
Speaker 1: concept is to talk about things you feel oddly passionate about,
Speaker 1: even though they don't really matter all that much. These
Speaker 1: low stakes hot takes can add energy to conversations. So
Speaker 1: if the conversation is at a lull or has been
Speaker 1: a bit heavy, you can start going around the room
Speaker 1: to have people share a low stakes hot take. Maybe
Speaker 1: one person will make the case for live versus artificial
Speaker 1: Christmas trees. Another person might start asserting that sending a
Speaker 1: friendly reminder about an upcoming deadline is annoying and unnecessary,
Speaker 1: one more reason that our inboxes are ridiculously full. Someone
Speaker 1: might make the case that no one should ever start
Speaker 1: a toast by saying they are nervous about public speaking.
Speaker 1: None of these things really matter all that much, but
Speaker 1: it is fun to voice strong opinions. Nonetheless, I have
Speaker 1: even heard of using loose stakes hot takes as an icebreaker.
Speaker 1: This could be a lot more engaging than the usual
Speaker 1: fun fact icebreaker, which here is my loose stakes hot
Speaker 1: take isn't fun to listen to. Gathering expert Priya Parker
Speaker 1: says healthy heat is good for group life. I think
Speaker 1: that's true. Playful arguing ups the energy level and adds
Speaker 1: a little competition and intensity, but without introducing real stress
Speaker 1: or risk. As much as we can pretend to be
Speaker 1: indignant about someone else's hot take when it's low steaks,
Speaker 1: we know it doesn't really matter. We don't need to agree.
Speaker 1: No one's identity is threatened. No one is going to
Speaker 1: take this personally. I mean, unless one of your conversation
Speaker 1: partners is in the artificial Christmas tree business or something.
Speaker 1: So if you're trying to liven things up, consider asking
Speaker 1: people to share a low Steaks hot take. You will
Speaker 1: get some healthy heat and maybe a window into each
Speaker 1: other's personalities too. And if you want to share your
Speaker 1: low Steaks hot take with me, send it to Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.