Ed Percival told me once that he actively looked to make a positive impact in every interaction with others.
If he went to a coffee shop he’d look at the name tag of the barista and call them by name as they asked for his name for his coffee cup.
If someone used the typical “how are you?” greeting or to open a conversation, he’d open up the energy of his 6’5″ frame and say something such as “wonderful! If I was any better I’d be you!” and unleash his megawatt smile!
Now the thing about being positive and making a positive difference in every interaction is that it physically changes you. I won’t bore you with the science, please simply trust me on this. Being positive creates physical and other changes linked to exchange of positive energy created by such interactions.
Now, why did I choose that photo above? As a relatively new Londoner, let me explain and bring awareness to our choices in how we act in everyday interactions.
One of the friends I’ve made over the last year or so in London is a long time city dweller who rides forty minutes each way to and from work all year long, no matter the weather.
He is one of the most positive and generous people I have met, and, anchoring on the phrase “how you do anything is how yo do everything”, he is always interacting with people in a positive way as he walks around public places. Opening doors, helping with a bag, saying hello. A tiny but telling example was the other day as we left a meeting and I walked him to his bicycle outside a busy railway station, he saw a piece of litter, picked it up and put it in a bin. Such a tiny action, yet so rare in a busy city. Positivity, and I’m certain that just as his generous and positive actions charge the batteries of those he connects with, it also constantly recharges his batteries as surely as the dynamo light that is charged by the front wheel of his bicycles as he rides across London to and from work.
To contrast, however, London has so many unwritten rules around etiquette and behaviour as millions of people flow to, through, around the city each day.
One is demonstrated in the photo above, that everyone “stands right” on escalators in tube and rail stations, allowing those who wish to move faster to “walk left” past them.
That one makes innate sense to me and, though I am a new Londoner, I smile at myse,f sometimes in airports and other cities when people don’t act that way, taking up the whole width of the escalator and thus slowing me and others down.
How might a Londoner react to someone blocking the way? The London way would be to do or say absolutely nothing, nothing at all. You see, interacting with others is absolutely NOT the London way.
I recently posted a fun video on LinkedIn with the following comment, generating lots of comments and interactions on that platform. I hope in my own small way through that post and this one I’ve spread Ed Percival’s message and encouraged some more people to bring awareness to how they flow through their day and to seek to make positive impacts through with each opportunity, each interaction.
**postscript : after drafting this a day or two before it went out, I headed out on the train and tube up to London. First I helped a mother and grandmother carry their toddler in a stroller up a long set of stair at a tube station, exchanging smiles as we finished. After that I was on a crowded tube and a couple came on and took individual seats across from each other. Engrossed in my phone for a moment, I didn’t pick up on this, but the lady across from me did and switched seats with one of the couple so they could sit together. As that lady sat next to me, I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Simple moments. #BeHuman