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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to invite people to share good news. This can lead to a more fruitful and positive conversation

than the usual, how are you banter?

We hear all day long.

If you pay attention, you will no doubt see that you say some version of,

how's it going, multiple times per day.

It can be formal like with a team icebreaker in a meeting,

but that is also how we greet kids or friends or even a regular barista.

And there's nothing wrong with this question. The problem is that almost everyone is going to answer, fine, or in this day and age, busy. None of these answers do much to advance the conversation

along. So why not tweak this question just a little bit and specifically invite people to share

something good? For instance, the tell me what you've been up to opening of a meeting could be asking everyone to share a win from the last week.

If nothing else, the meeting is going to start with everyone feeling like they are in a more

positive frame of mind.

Wow.

This is a winning team.

If you are leading a Sunday school class or a Girl Scout troop meeting,

you could likewise invite people to share the best thing that happened since you last saw each other.

Ask your Saturday morning running buddies, what was the highlight of their week?

If you run into a friend in the grocery store, ask her what she most enjoyed cooking this week.

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