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 be open to hearing about other people's passions,
Speaker 1: even if you don't share those passions yourself. When there
Speaker 1: is something that other people are really excited about, try
Speaker 1: to find out why. You'll get a window into these
Speaker 1: other people's lives. And even if you don't become an expert,
Speaker 1: you might have one more interesting thing to talk about
Speaker 1: at a dinner at a conference a few years ago,
Speaker 1: I found myself sitting near two linguistics experts who are
Speaker 1: talking about the language Dothraci in the HBO series Game
Speaker 1: of Thrones. I hadn't watched a single episode of the show,
Speaker 1: and I'm not particularly into linguistics, but their conversation was captivating.
Speaker 1: They were passionate about the way languages were created and
Speaker 1: how they evolved. The conversation referenced the quirks of numerous
Speaker 1: world languages, historic languages, and pretend languages. I didn't become
Speaker 1: a Game of Thrones fan, but I did learn a
Speaker 1: lot about how one might create a language and how
Speaker 1: languages came to be. I bet you can recall a
Speaker 1: time you met a fan of a particular sports team
Speaker 1: or musical artist, or an aficionado of wine or Goudy architecture,
Speaker 1: or an enthusiast for a seemingly random sport or hobby,
Speaker 1: and you are unexpectedly intrigued by what they had to say.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you overheard two experts talking and just had
Speaker 1: to listen in. It can be so interesting to hear
Speaker 1: about another person's past, even if you don't share it yourself. Well,
Speaker 1: some folks are happy to jump in and talk about
Speaker 1: their interests right away, maybe even sharing more than you
Speaker 1: want to know. A lot of folks need a bit
Speaker 1: more coaxing, So the next time you pick up on
Speaker 1: the fact that someone is passionate about something perhaps a
Speaker 1: bit obscure or at least out of the ordinary, ask
Speaker 1: a bit more. Wow. You spend twelve hours a week
Speaker 1: doing taekwond what attracts you to it? Or you've traveled
Speaker 1: the world to see Wagner's ring cycle fascinating? What made
Speaker 1: you do that? Or simply what's the best part of
Speaker 1: being a Yankees fan? There are so many things that
Speaker 1: some people are passionate about and other people don't care about.
Speaker 1: At all. People's interests vary, and that is a good thing.
Speaker 1: When you encounter a person who is passionate about something
Speaker 1: you are not, it is honoring and worthwhile to find
Speaker 1: out why they are so go into it. Plus, pretty
Speaker 1: much anything someone is passionate about will be interesting to
Speaker 1: hear about from their point of view. If you have
Speaker 1: been put next to someone you don't know at a
Speaker 1: dinner or another event, this is a great way to
Speaker 1: pass the time. Let's just say that all the time
Speaker 1: I was learning about languages, I was not having to
Speaker 1: think of questions like oh, so you once lived in Washington,
Speaker 1: DC too. Hearing about someone else's passion is way more interesting.
Speaker 1: And now when someone does talk about Game of Thrones,
Speaker 1: which remember I have not watched, I can at least
Speaker 1: mention something about it and take part in that conversation.
Speaker 1: Did you know this random thing about Dothraci? Everything is
Speaker 1: a big deal to someone, and knowing a little bit
Speaker 1: about why something is a big deal opens up a
Speaker 1: world of conversations. In the mean time, 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.