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 to smile at anyone in your orbit when
Speaker 1: you are within ten feet of them, and to greet
Speaker 1: anyone within five feet. This rule of thumb can prompt
Speaker 1: you to be friendly without having to overthink what is appropriate.
Speaker 1: Today's tip, like some others, recently, comes from Robert Sutton
Speaker 1: and Huggy Rowse book The Friction Project. In this book,
Speaker 1: they share a tip from the nonprofit health system Oxner Health.
Speaker 1: According to the authors, at Oxner Health, employees are expected
Speaker 1: to make eye contact and smile at a colleague or
Speaker 1: patient anytime they are within ten feet of each other,
Speaker 1: and to say hello to anyone within five feet. Now.
Speaker 1: When I first heard all this, I found it a
Speaker 1: little strange. Does anyone really need a company policy that
Speaker 1: is so specific? But I know that a lot of
Speaker 1: organizations expect staff to be friendly to colleagues and customers,
Speaker 1: but don't spell out what that means. We all come
Speaker 1: to work with different backgrounds and different temperaments and different expectations.
Speaker 1: Giving a general guideline means that people don't have to
Speaker 1: guess what being friendly would look like. As long as
Speaker 1: no one goes overboard about this, like I sincerely hope
Speaker 1: people aren't being disciplined for not smiling until eight feet
Speaker 1: or something like that, a rule of thumb like this
Speaker 1: can be helpful. You might consider adopting such a rule
Speaker 1: of thumb in your own life too. I know I
Speaker 1: spend an unfortunate amount of bandwidth when I am out
Speaker 1: running or walking wondering when it is appropriate to wave
Speaker 1: to a fellow jogger, and then maybe doing it too
Speaker 1: early and they miss it, and then I either have
Speaker 1: to do it again or they think I'm being rude,
Speaker 1: and you can see why I sometimes wind up on
Speaker 1: the treadmill out of sheer awkwardness. But a rule like
Speaker 1: this takes the guesswork out of these things. Whenever you
Speaker 1: are somewhere that there is an assumed or actual relationship,
Speaker 1: like at work, school, your house of worship, the dog park,
Speaker 1: you can smile at ten and greet at five. This
Speaker 1: might nudge you to be just a little friendlier than
Speaker 1: you otherwise would be, which will probably make you and
Speaker 1: those in your community feel a little more connected. Of course,
Speaker 1: if if smiling at ten feet and greeting at five
Speaker 1: seems a bit over eager or two outgoing for you.
Speaker 1: You could adapt the distances to fit your circumstances. Maybe
Speaker 1: if you are a little more reserved, or you're in
Speaker 1: a more reserved and solemn organization, you don't need to
Speaker 1: actively greet people. You can just smile and nod. Or
Speaker 1: maybe you spend your days somewhere where full on hugs
Speaker 1: are demanded anytime you are within twenty feet of someone.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but whatever specifics are right for you,
Speaker 1: or for your team at work, or for your family too,
Speaker 1: I think it is wise to have routine for how
Speaker 1: you will interact with other people when you cross paths
Speaker 1: with them. You can add a bit of automatic connection
Speaker 1: and positivity to your days and we can all appreciate that.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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