Make Someone’s Day Every Day

Make someone’s day, every day. What do I mean by that? When I say that, I mean it. I try to make anyone I come in contact with laugh, smile or be uplifted in some way. It can be a very real part of your personal excellence if you try it.

I get that from my wife. She works in corporate real estate and talks to  brokers all over the country. When we were locked down for the Covid-19 pandemic, she was working at home. She does a lot of phone time and I commented one day that she’s “so damn perky” on the phone. She told me she wanted to make someone’s day, every day.

I thought about that and decided I’d try it.  You know what I found out, it made my day too. I realized that by making that person’s day, I felt better about myself.

Last Week at Dinner

My wife and I were out to dinner in an unfamiliar town on a little mini vacation last week. Seated in the booth adjacent to ours was a young couple with a small child – about 18 months old. The kid was teething and very loud and fussy. I tried to amuse him by making funny faces and playing peek a boo, but it only worked for so long. Just as their food arrived, the kid went off the deep end and dad had to take him outside.

Mom was clearly upset and said aloud to herself “I didn’t think it was gonna be this hard and I’m having another one?” I chimed in and said “my mother said to me when my kids were little: ‘small kids, small problems.'” We got to talking with her and my wife shared some of her parenting stories and assured her everything would work out if you gave your kids “love and wings.” After they finally finished dinner, the young mom gave my wife a hug and said thank you. When they left the restaurant, my wife winked at me and, “we made her night!” We were very happy.

Make Someone’s Day: Thank a Veteran

We live in Florida, so there are a fair amount of retirees, including retired military, in our community. Whenever I see a Veteran, I thank them for their service. They light up, smile and thank me for thanking them. I’ve been told by many vets when people do that, it makes their day. I do the same for first responders.

What does all this mean for your own personal growth? The best explanation I can give is Charles Dickens’ a Christmas Carol, when Scrooge transforms from the old mizer to the giddy old man who is as “happy as a schoolboy.” He realizes he can only find true happiness by helping others. Do you think he made Bob Cratchit’s day with the prize turkey or his nephew’s day by coming to dinner and making him a partner in his firm? In the original text, Dickens explains the transformation in the second to last paragraph:

“Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”

Scrooged

In the 1988 reimagining of A Christmas Carol, Scrooged, Bill Murray puts it in a little more contemporary language:

“[Christmas Eve means} for a few hours a year, we really are who we hoped we would be…and you’ll want that feeling every day.”

I edited the quote a bit, but he said those words. Think about that for a minute. “We really are who we hoped we would be.” What if you could be who you hoped you’d be every day? The easiest and most fulfilling way to do that is to make someone’s day every day. Whether it’s a total stranger, a co-worker, a friend or a family member, it doesn’t matter. Do it. You’ll be surprised about how good you’ll feel.