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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to think through your post pandemic small talk.

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Speaker 1: It is possible to have meaningful but not too deep conversations,

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Speaker 1: especially if you think about them a bit ahead of time.

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Speaker 1: Many people who spent the past year working remotely are

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Speaker 1: finally returning to their offices at least part time. Even

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Speaker 1: people who have been in their offices are now dealing

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Speaker 1: with more relaxed restrictions. During the worst of the pandemic,

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Speaker 1: different groups of people may have been in the office

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Speaker 1: at different times, with break room lingering discouraged. Now things

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Speaker 1: are more back to normal, and that means more converse

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Speaker 1: stations around the coffee pot or water cooler or while

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Speaker 1: you're waiting for the elevator. And as welcome as that,

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Speaker 1: maybe it can also feel a little intimidating. Many of

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Speaker 1: us are just out of practice at small talk, and

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Speaker 1: even if we did a lot of small talk before

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Speaker 1: the pandemic, well, many people don't do it all that well.

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Speaker 1: So here are a few tips. First of all, small

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Speaker 1: talk is supposed to be well small. I mean, after all,

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Speaker 1: you are waiting for an elevator, which means that in general,

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Speaker 1: we want to avoid waiting into two deep waters. People

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Speaker 1: have had a variety of experiences in the last year.

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Speaker 1: Many of them have been hard illness losses, financial hardships,

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Speaker 1: relationship stress, anxiety, loneliness. That said, it is also possible

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Speaker 1: that the pandemic gave some of your colleagues an opportunity

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Speaker 1: for rest and renewal, strengthening relationships, or discover right new interests.

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Speaker 1: So how do you invite authentic connection will recognizing that

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Speaker 1: people may be in lots of different places, practically speaking,

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Speaker 1: try this. Do not ask how are you? It can

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Speaker 1: be overwhelming to answer in an honest way, and answering

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Speaker 1: fine or worse busy doesn't really reconnect you and your colleague. Instead,

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Speaker 1: try asking questions that are focused yet meaningful. What has

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Speaker 1: this first week back at work been like for you?

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Speaker 1: What would you like me to know about your life

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Speaker 1: since we last saw each other? How are you doing

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Speaker 1: this morning, which is a more manageable question to answer

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Speaker 1: than the bigger how are you? It is also helpful

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Speaker 1: to realize that you don't have to bring the pandemic

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Speaker 1: into every conversation. Small talk serves to help us establish

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Speaker 1: common ground or share information. So you could ask, have

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Speaker 1: you read anything into Sting recently? Or what are you

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Speaker 1: looking forward to this summer? Ask about something you know

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Speaker 1: your colleague is interested in, like whether he is coaching

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Speaker 1: his kids softball team again this year, or how her

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Speaker 1: garden is doing, whether she's seen a quiet place too,

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Speaker 1: if you know she liked the first movie. Aim for

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Speaker 1: conversation topics that let you connect in meaningful ways, but

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Speaker 1: that aren't so intense that they require an hour long

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Speaker 1: debrief to do them justice. Again we are waiting for

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Speaker 1: the elevator. It can also be okay and sometimes helpful

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Speaker 1: to acknowledge that small talk feels weird after a year apart.

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Speaker 1: I am grateful to be interacting person, but finding it

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Speaker 1: a little strange. What about you? If your companion is

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Speaker 1: feeling that way too, you can laugh about it together,

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Speaker 1: or maybe the person isn't and hopefully she will step

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Speaker 1: up and lead the conversation and you can follow along.

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Speaker 1: Of course, in addition to thinking about questions to ask

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Speaker 1: your colleagues, you should recognize that you are going to

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Speaker 1: be asked these questions too, so be ready with a

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Speaker 1: few things that you want to share. Ponder some good anecdotes. Yep,

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Speaker 1: you can come up with these ahead of time, personal

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Speaker 1: enough to be relationship building, but no need to bear

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Speaker 1: your soul. Maybe you could describe a new hobby you've

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Speaker 1: taken up and a funny thing that happened with that,

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Speaker 1: a book you've read, or how you're enjoying evening walks

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Speaker 1: with your family, and something you saw the other night.

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Speaker 1: If it's been a really rough year, you could say that,

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Speaker 1: but then pivot to a new topic. I'm thankful that

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Speaker 1: things are stabilizing. I'm really looking forward to time outdoors

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Speaker 1: this summer. Have you been to the park down the

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Speaker 1: streets since they installed the new sculptures? And then you're

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Speaker 1: onto talking about that? So today, ponder how you might

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Speaker 1: answer the inevitable how are you question in an interesting way?

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Speaker 1: And what question other than how are you? You might

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Speaker 1: ask your colleagues. By connecting in meaningful but not two

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Speaker 1: intense ways, we can renew our relationships with our coworkers

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Speaker 1: and pave the way for collaboration in the future. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, i'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E

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Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At

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Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.