I found a small 2 inch by 4 inch piece of paper hidden inside one of the books I’m currently reading.
On it were two fill-in-the-blank sentences with handwritten answers by, presumably, Becca—who wrote her name sideways in the bottom left corner of the paper.
The first sentence started with, “What I really admire about you is…” which was filled in with the following answer: “…how you care for your friends when their front teeth are missing :)”
The second sentence started with, “At work, you are great at…” which was filled in with, “…always having a warm and pleasant demeanor.”
…I’ll sometimes do this exercise in schools when giving a presentation where I ask the student audience if any of them have a best friend. Most will raise their hands. Then I’ll ask if any of them can tell me why that person is their best friend. What follows are usually things like:
- Is kind
- Is funny
- Is helpful
- Spends time with me
- Cheers me up when I’m sad
- Has the same interests as me
- And so on…
What’s worth pointing out in both of these above examples is what isn’t mentioned. Neither Becca nor ANY of the student body groups (I’ve spoken to so far) said anything about:
- Is rich
- Is (insta)famous
- Wears brand name clothes
- Never makes mistakes
- Has the freshest Nikes
- Has the newest iPhone
- And so on…
At the end of the day… what people remember about you isn’t what you bought, how well known you were, how “perfect” you were…
What they remember is your character, your personality, the actions you took…
…Don’t let List #2 make you forget it.