By: Stuart Knight (Founder and CEO) | December 4, 2024
As you can see in the title of this week’s blog, I am inviting those readers who truly want to shake things up in the year 2025 to continue reading. If you happen to be one of those people who is already perfectly aligned for an awesome year ahead, I officially give you the week off!
For the rest of you, I have a surprise that I can’t wait to share!
Let me lead into that surprise, by sharing something else first. Working in the field of self development is a rewarding experience for all of the reasons you can probably guess. Who doesn’t love seeing someone make a positive change in their life due to something you said, wrote or did? However, working in this industry also comes with its fair share of headaches, with the biggest one being the frustration of trying desperately to motivate people who are unwilling to change.
You literally throw every tool you have in your arsenal at them, pep talks, quotes from famous people, inspiring stories of those who beat the odds, and nothing seems to be able to crack through that hard exterior. I swear the Dalai Lama, Jesus Christ and Oprah Winfrey could all show up at the exact same moment and say, “I believe in you”, and some people would respond with,“Oh yeah? And, what exactly are your credentials?”.
Personally, I’ve faced this kind of pushback hundreds of times throughout my career, which I’ve come to accept. However, this experience has also challenged me to try and discover clever ways that are so undeniably easy, people simply have to give it a try. In some cases it worked, but in many others it didn’t, which is ok, because not trying at all is something I would have a much harder time accepting.
Yet, this time, I think I might have finally cracked the code. I think I might have just come up with the simplest, most direct way of positively changing a person’s life, and as a result, the world around them. And it hardly requires any major time or effort! Wow, why do I feel like I’m about to sell you steak knives? And if you buy them, I’ll throw in a free vacuum!
Let’s face it, many of the big changes we want to make in life require a fair amount of effort. For example, it would be silly of me to expect that I could achieve the goal of putting on thirty pounds of muscle by only lifting weights one day a week. However, on the flip side of that general rule, sometimes it’s the smallest changes that have the biggest impact. Don’t get me started on how much better my life becomes when I simply force myself to go to bed early!
So, what I am about to share with you is an example of how one simple change can make a huge difference. Quite frankly, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this idea years ago. Ready for it? Here we go!
Could talking to strangers change the course of your life?
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and it occurred to me that the answer is a resounding YES! Yet, how many people do you think actively do it? Hardly any.
I think we all fantasize about the idea of talking to strangers. Someone intriguing sits next to us on the bus, a person you are convinced has a “story” walks past you on the street, the individual you always see at the cafe wearing that loud green coat is sitting next to you again, and you wish you could talk to them. But you don’t, because you are convinced that one of many things are true about that person. They probably don’t speak English, or just came from a funeral, or need to do their taxes, so I shouldn’t interrupt. Right?
Knowing people stop themselves from talking to strangers due to a litany of horrible expected outcomes breaks my heart. I say that, because I talk to strangers every day, and it turns out they aren’t so strange. In fact, most of them are open to meaningful conversation with other strangers. And I don’t say that because of the ONE good conversation I had with a stranger ten years ago, but rather I base it on thousands of conversations I have had with strangers throughout my life.
By the way, has it ever occurred to you that you are a stranger to almost every single person on planet earth? Would you be so difficult to talk to? In fact, aren’t you pretty awesome? Whether it’s places you’ve travelled to, books you’ve read, companies you have started, risks you have taken, etc. Isn’t it safe to say you have done some pretty cool things? If a stranger asked you about those cool things, would you need therapy to recover? I’m guessing the answer is no. So, why would other strangers be so afraid of talking to you? From experience, I can tell you that they’re not.
With that my friend, I present to you an amazing chance to shake your life up in profound ways in the year 2025, by joining a group of people from around the world who commit to having one conversation with one stranger per month. The concept couldn’t be more straight forward with just 3 easy steps:
Once a month, members of this group are given the same intriguing question to ask a stranger of their choice, with the intention of creating a meaningful connection.
At the end of the month, (first Monday of every month) we all jump on a Zoom call together to share lessons learned and insights that transpired from this experience.
Members are given the next intriguing question to use the following month. Repeat steps 1-3.
Are the members of this group a little terrified by the idea of sparking up a meaningful conversation with a stranger? Hell yes! I’ve written a bloody book on the subject of conversation, and it still scares me. That’s the point! We are doing it for many reasons, and being taken out of our comfort zone is definitely one of them. Another reason we do it is because we happen to think human beings are the best television show of all time. With the right questions, you get to tap into their stories, wisdom, knowledge, perspectives, experiences and more! What’s not to gain? And while you are on the receiving end of all of these benefits, you also get to give another person the greatest gift there is, which is to be seen, heard and even loved.
Your one single experience with a stranger could potentially change your life, and what’s more, you get to tap into the experiences other members had over the past thirty days as well! How could this simple commitment not change the course of your life? And it’s not just about the benefits of talking to strangers. It’s also about what happens when you come together to meet other people who have the guts to take on the same challenge as you!
No matter how introverted, or extroverted you may be, this group is meant to inspire each other to take risks, jump out of our comfort zone and begin fostering relationships in 2025 that change our lives, and change the world. Who’s in?
Membership is free, and I now invite you to join this movement today. Click HERE to learn more, and to sign up.
Much love,
Stuart
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