I believe that every person we meet could connect us to the next person or event in our lives. We are creators. Every thought is pregnant with the next event in our lives. Some people call it karma. I believe that if we do good, we receive good and if we do bad then karma is a, well, you know the saying. So when you meet a new person you better be nice, because you don’t know who they are connected to that you may need to meet. One of the best stories I have ever read about was a lesson to be nice connecting with new people came from a book I recently read.

I am paraphrasing of course, there was a young salesman working for a department store in the earlier part of the 20^th century. He was smart, but not very appealing or attractive, so sales came really tough to the young man. The older salesmen ignored him and bullied him and wished he were not a part of their team, because he didn’t fit their style. One rainy day, an elderly woman came into the store. She was not very well dressed, wet from the rain and certainly did not appear to be a customer. The seasoned salesmen, who were huddled around swapping stories on this slow sales day, never made a move towards her. Our young unsuccessful salesmen, who was standing alone, not invited to the older salesmen’s huddle, went over to help her. She quickly explained she just came in to get out of the rain and did not intend to make a purchase of anything. The young salesman understood but began a conversation with her anyway. When the rain let up, she stated that she needed to be on her way, thanked him for being polite and asked for his business card, which he obliged. Two weeks later, after two more weeks of little production, the young man was called into the general manager’s office for what he assumed was to be fired for his lack of production. Instead, he was told of a letter he received from the CEO of the company requesting his transfer to his personal staff. When the young man asked why, he was told that the elderly lady he had been so nice to on that rainy day was the aunt of the CEO of the company. You just never know who people know. The lesson is to be nice every day.

All of us since we graduated high school know about 250 people. Those 250 people know another 250 people each. Therefore, when you meet a new person, you potentially are connecting to 62,500 people. You would not be rude to an audience of 62,500. If you are rude to a new person, it is the same effect. It takes the same amount of energy to be nice as it does to be rude. Remember, you never know who someone may know and it may very well be the person you have been praying for or thinking of to meet. Don’t blow your one opportunity by judging someone too fast and missing an opportunity to be nice. Go be nice to someone today!

  “Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

     Watch your actions; they become habits.     

                                    Watch your habits; they become character.                               

                                 Watch your character; it becomes your destiny”.—Lao-Tze

Image by Stuart Miles at www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 28 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.