The Friday 'Hug' Challenge

It’s Thursday night and I hope you’ve had a rewarding week so far. This is not going to be a long post today for one reason - I’m absolutely exhausted after presenting at the Vetsure Think Tank 11.

It was a great fun event and a pleasure to get to know and work with fifty of the very best practice owners and managers here in the UK. If you have the chance to go in future, I'd certainly recommend it.

Before my presentations I did an exercise to liven up the room and get people into a good mental state to learn. The exercise was simple. I asked everyone to get up and go make three other people they did not know in the room feel special. At first the room was… how can I say it… very British. My poor audience had a look of disbelief and horror on their faces.

However, with a little further cajoling, people slowly and grudgingly got to their feet. 30 seconds later and the room had transformed - erupting into a riot of smiles, laughter, positivity, hugging and high fives. So much so, I couldn’t get them to stop!

It was brilliant. The energy in the room was crackling and the good vibe was palpable. All induced by the simple act of taking a second to make someone else feel special.

This is a great trick you can use in your day to day work and home life to generate micro-hits of happiness and I’d recommend taking it for a spin in your life/practice.

The aim of the game is simply to make someone else feel significant and loved.

So, my Friday challenge for you is to make three people you meet (in your life, home or practice) feel special and loved in whatever way you feel is fit (and workplace appropriate 😉).

Perhaps it’s a random act of kindness like giving a homeless person you pass on the way to work a few pounds so they can get a bed in a shelter for the evening. Or maybe you can take a small amount of time to ask people about their life before diving into the day ahead. Perhaps it’s getting everyone at work pizza for no other reasons that “just because”. Or maybe it’s just giving someone a hug.

Whatever you choose, I am willing to bet you won’t be disappointed with the result. Doing something nice for someone else is one of the best ways to help them to feel significant, loved and connected. And it's great for you because deep down, nothing feels as good as helping someone else. Especially when you work in a caring profession as we all do. Foster than as an ability and you are going to be a pretty popular person to spend time with.

Let me know what you did and what happened next in the comment box below.