My favorite conversation from the weekend was one that wasn’t planned.
I saw one of our martial arts school’s students perform in a standout way… and I saw his mom sitting alone.
I went up to her and simply remarked on the performance and then intentionally lingered around after the initial comment and went back-and-forth with her for a while—even after some prolonged pauses.
We talked about her son, his character, and his future. We then talked out our futures, our travel history and plans, and our ideas around retirement. We then did a deep dive and talked about Africa, Burning Man, and ways society could be improved…
All because of that one intention I lead with… and that was to linger. Not if it made it awkward, but if it made the conversation progress. And it did.
It was a totally impromptu decision that worked out as well as it did because of the inner work I’ve done around the topic of conversation before.
If you go in with a script or a list of questions or a designated plan… or feel like you need one of the above… you might miss the magic of a great conversation.
If you lead with the right intention, however, and trust… and linger… you might start to see magic pop into your life more and more…