Saturday, January 12, 2008

Hi, How Are ya? I Didn't Want Anything!

Every once in a while I get the urge to call somebody. Actually, occasionally I get the urge to call EVERYBODY, but that's usually not practical. But one of the things I like to do is call someone -- friend, sometimes someone I've worked with or collaborated with, or who's life I've made miserable with job or business related issues -- and just say, "Hi... How are ya? I didn't want anything, no work to do. You just crossed my mind and I wanted to say hello and wish you a happy day."

The first time I did that I thought we'd have to administer CPR because, for that person, when I was on the phone, it almost certainly meant "a problem" needed to be handled, or an issue resolved, or some other stress inducing factor was in play. So the phone rang, they saw my number, took a deep breath, prepared for the payload, "Hello, Kelvin..." and I said, "Hi Jill (not their real name) . I didn't really want anything. I figured I'd call you at least once when I didn't have any work for you to do, just to say hi and thank you for all you've done over the months to help me. You've always been great." And Jill (still not their real name) said, "Really?" I said, "Uh huh." They said, "Oh... wow... how nice. Thank you, I appreciate that."

I do that routinely now; not to the same person, of course, but every once in a while I just a call someone, even if it means I leave a message on their voice mail, and say "Hi... I don't want anything. You don't need to call back. I just wanted to say hi. Hope you're having an awesome day."

A phone call is more personal than an email -- and you know how I love email -- but if email is all you got then that works. But sometimes... your human voice saying "hi... I was thinking about you" has a more healing effect than anything you could possibly write, so every once in a while... just call.

Try it. You'll feel good about it... and they'll feel grrrreat !

Have an awesome day.

Kelvin

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