Here are 2 encounters I had this week:

One was with a colleague at work, related to a problem we were trying to solve. During our conversation, she mentioned that she may have to leave early that day because her grandpa was in hospice.  I asked about her grandpa and how she was handling the situation.  She spent several minutes telling me about him and how she’s dealing with his last days.

The other encounter was with my wife. We went to a local coffee shop after dinner with the intention of my wife studying and me writing this week’s blog post.  As we sat down to begin working, my wife started telling me about something she is currently working on.  The next thing we knew, we had been talking for over an hour and it was time for us to go.

On both occasions, I started out with a task that needed to be completed when, unexpectedly, a deeper conversation emerged. As I look back on both of these encounters, I’m thankful that I opted to engage in the conversations and connect with these 2 people, instead dismissing them in order to complete the task at hand.  Some things are more important than the next item on our to-do list.

Pay attention to your interactions this week. Don’t miss an opportunity to connect with someone because you’re singularly focused on the task at hand.  Your attention shows others you are interested in what’s going on with them.  Your attention to others shows them that you care.

Let’s be attentive to people that would benefit from knowing we care.

PS: You’ll be happy to know that my work problem got solved and this blog post, obviously got posted.