“Go ahead, make my day.”
More threat than invitation, Clint Eastwood’s line is the ultimate relationship dare. Making Inspector Harry Callahan’s day in the film “Sudden Impact” was a challenge that included a robbery and shoot-out in a diner where the waitress put too much sugar in Harry’s coffee.
My role model for early rising, Benjamin Franklin, approached the idea of making someone’s day a bit differently than Dirty Harry. In the margins of his daily calendar, Franklin wrote the question he pondered throughout each 24-hour cycle: “What good shall I do this day?”
Most of us don’t get up in the morning thinking about how we can make someone’s day as Dirty Harry did. Most of us also don’t wake up thinking that we have the ability to make someone’s day better, easier or more pleasant. Making someone’s day is one of our greatest opportunities to connect with friends, colleagues, clients and prospects. It’s also the opportunity we most frequently miss.
A few years ago on Jan. 1, I committed to making at least one person’s day every day. Finding prospects for this activity wasn’t hard; I only had to look as far as my inbox and voicemail.
When I receive a message that compliments or thanks me, I respond to tell the sender that he/she has made my day. It never ceases to surprise me that telling people that they have made my day almost always makes their day, too. When someone does something beneficial for me, or I recognize someone’s influence on a project or activity that is going well for me, I send them a note or email, or call them to thank them for their specific impact on my success. Sending an unexpected email early in the morning is especially appreciated, since it can impact the recipient’s outlook for the whole day.
The opportunities are endless and surface everywhere. Call a customer service help line and reach a rep who has great communication skills? Meet with a client and interact with an administrative assistant who is especially gracious and efficient? Tell them.
Both Harry Callahan and Benjamin Franklin were right: our relationships are heightened when we dare to make a conscious impact on other people’s experience. If you dared yourself to make someone’s day every day, what kind of impact would it have on your business in 2014? That’s a question worth pondering every morning.
So go ahead—make someone’s day.
