Spreading Kindness (Stop things from becoming “THINGS”)

When you walk into the office each day, you see your coworkers and make small talk about the weather or the family as you each get a cup of coffee.

But none of us know everything that other person is going through. For me, we learned a few years ago that my daughter had sleep apnea. We had surgery done to help address it but my sleep was this for two years – the red bars showing when I was awake:

Those were some of the hardest years of my life but also some of the most productive and rewarding because I felt supported with kindness and empathy, without judgement

For those who’ve read my previous posts, I’ve talked about stopping things from becoming “THINGS” and a lot of that was in the context of helping work projects go more smoothly.

But lately I’ve been reflecting on WHY that philosophy works and it’s this:

Providing the people around you grace and kindness in their work projects, and making sure they feel heard and informed, shows you value them as human beings too.

For example, maybe someone forgot to get you something they promised to give you. A frustrating situation. But maybe it happened because the rest of their family got sick and they were playing doctor while trying to balance their workload. Or maybe they got some personal upsetting news. You don’t know.

But by being kind – “Hi! Have you happened to have a chance to look into this for me?” versus “Why didn’t you give that information to me like you said you would?” You’ve stopped it from becoming a THING by assuming good intentions.

So here’s my request:

Assume good intentions and focus on kindness and empathy at work today. I guarantee you will have a better day for it and more importantly your co workers will too!