Say Cheese!

In Tim Ferris' book, "The 4 Hour Work Week," he invites his readers to undertake a variety of challenges to help them gain confidence and comfort in public settings. For example, he dares you to find a busy place and lie down in the middle of that place for 30-40 seconds and then get up and act like nothing ever happened.


In Dale Carnegie's book, "How To Win Friends and Influence People," one of his recommendations is to smile more often because it portrays confidence, humility and a friendly demeanor.


If we combine Ferriss' challenge with Carnegie's suggestion, we have a blog topic!  As you walk around take notice of how many people stare at the ground when you walk by.  For the past couple of months I have actively worked on looking random people in the eye and smiling as I pass them on the street, at the gym, etc...This makes some people very uncomfortable but I was quite surprised by the amount of smiles I received in return!  A smile never hurt anyone, so give it a try.


Here are some random facts about smiling I uncovered after doing a bit of research:

--Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better, even fake smiles.
--We are born with the ability to smile.  Even blind babies are able to smile.
--Smiling is contagious.
--It is easier to smile than to frown.




--Schmidty