How often have you muttered those immortal words: “If I knew then what I know now……”. Well, I’m about to pass on a piece of wisdom that was given to me years ago, and it could change the way your life unfolds.Years ago I met a real gent. He was an elderly, silver haired chap, dignified, beautifully turned out, the consummate charmer. I forget how our conversation came about but I recall him telling me that people weren’t ‘nice’ enough to each other. So many people thought nice things, he said, but rarely articulated them.
He recounted how someone had told him, years earlier, that if he ever had any complimentary thoughts about someone, that he should articulate them providing, of course, they were genuine. It was a philosophy he had followed since and, with the odd exception, his words had nearly always resuled in a positive reaction. He advised me to adopt the strategy becuase, one day, it would pay dividends.
And it is a philosphy I have followed since. The other day I drove into a supermarket and, as I was getting out of my car – dressed in my scruffs, I would add – I saw a beautifully manicured woman getting out of her car. She was obviously going to do some shopping or may even have been popping in for a lunchtime sandwich.
I can still see her clearly. She was wearing a cream bollero jacket and khakhi coloured trousers. I recall thinking, “she’s really smart,” and as I brushed passed her I said: “I love your outfit, you look lovely today.” The woman turned and beamed at me. “How nice,” she said, “no one has ever said that to me in a car park before.” No further words were spoken and I went about my business and she hers.
How difficult was that? I felt good for telling her, I felt even better that she reacted so well (….it was a genuine comment after all) and it probably made her day. As my dad would have said, “she was probably like a dog with two tails.”
So go on, make someone’s day by saying something nice, but make sure you’re sentiments are genuine before opening your mouth otherwise people will find you out! Say enough of the right things in the right places, and people will want to be with you, near you and do business with you.