This ‘make someone smile challenge’ is a one-day challenge. I’m talking about making them genuinely smile. Not just making them crack a smile or, worse, give you a fake smile, but, instead, making them full-out smile because they feel so good. Are you up for this challenge? There are some really good reasons to take it on!
5 Reasons To Take The ‘Make Someone Smile Challenge’
1. It Benefits You To Make Someone Smile
When you make someone smile, you feel good. Not only do you feel good because you have improved their mood – you feel good because you will also smile, and your smile makes you feel good.
Our facial expressions can improve our mood, they can also make us feel worse. Our body language can do the same. That’s why there is something to the whole ‘fake it until you make it’ thing. One study found that subjects who were either forced to raise their cheeks (smile) or contract their eyebrows (frown) were influenced in a positive way when they raised their cheeks. In short, if we force ourselves to smile and carry ourselves in an upbeat and positive way, then we can improve our mood.
But, we don’t need to force anything when we are around someone who is truly smiling and feeling good. They infect us with their energy naturally, which is why taking on this challenge should be exciting to you. You can create a way to improve your mood without actually having to do anything but make someone else truly smile.
2. You Could Impact More Than Just That Person And You
So, you make someone smile and now you’re smiling too. You both feel great and then you go your separate ways at some point. Your heightened moods and genuine smiles have the ability to infect other people positively, too. You may infect your neighbors, family, friends, co-workers, or strangers on the street with your smile. If they get infected, they could infect someone else. And, soon, people across the world could be infected with a smile just because you choose to make one person smile.
This is not an exaggeration. For anyone who travels, you know how many people you come into contact with, and the ability to influence others positively is very high.
3. You Could Be That Bright Light In A Sea Of Darkness
The fact is that the world can be ugly. We can run into more frowns, scowls, and cold glares than smiles in our day. All those negative energies out there have the power to drag us down and make us feel horrible.
So, if you can make one person truly smile, you can be that unique light in a sea of darkness. They will see you in a positive light, which will increase their affection, respect, and trust towards you. Increasing those things is good in any relationship, whether it’s with a friend or co-worker or even a stranger.
4. Making Other People Feel Good Gives More Positive Meaning To Life
Contributing to and making other people’s lives better will give more meaning to your life. It makes you feel like you’ve done something with yourself. It makes you feel like you’ve had an impact in some way.
If you are the type of person who walks around and tries to purposely make people NOT smile (we all know someone like that!) then what kind of meaning does your life have? Spreading hate, misery, and anger?
Alternatively, when you purposely go out and try to make people’s life’s better, what kind of meaning does your life have? Contribution and spreading good things like love and happiness? Isn’t that more meaningful?
Put it this way: When you are on your death bed, what mark will you have left on the world? One where you have helped others and contributed, or one where you have hurt others and made the world a worse place?
5. You Will Gain More Awareness Around How You Treat People
Challenging yourself to make someone smile helps you to become more aware of how you treat people. When you are in the zone of trying to make someone smile, you pay attention to your words and actions, and you pay attention to their reactions. This will feel weird. Most of us are not used to being so aware and present in our interactions. Most of us are not used to choosing our words carefully. Most of us don’t monitor how we behave towards someone. But, trust me, you will during this challenge. And, if you choose to do this one-day challenge over and over again, you will start to naturally monitor yourself around other people.
The Challenge: How To Make Other People Truly Smile
So, you are ready to take on the challenge of making people truly smile, but how can you do that? Sometimes people are experiencing negative things, stuck in their worries or fears, or just not in the mood for feeling good and smiling. But, unless they are in the midst of a tragedy or an extremely negative event, you have the ability to make them smile.
While telling jokes and pointing out funny things are obviously two things that could make them genuinely smile, I also recommend you test out the following tips.
1. Flash A Genuine Smile
The other day I was driving on a back road and a guy and his wife were struggling to put a sign into their truck. I slowed down to see if they needed help, but the guy flashed me the most sincere smile and then waved me to keep going. The instant he smiled, I smiled – even though I hadn’t thought to smile before that – and I felt instantly good about him, myself, and my day.
You will be amazed at how powerful your genuine smile. People will naturally smile when they see you smile because a smile is infectious.
People will also instantly like you more.
They will also be more drawn to help you if you need help.
And, they will be more willing to accept help from you if they need help.
On and on it goes.
Therefore, find something that makes you feel good, focus on it, and then put on your most sincere smile.
For instance, if you are at a restaurant, get excited. Be grateful for the choices, ambiance, and no dishes to clean up after you eat. Get pumped that you are out and going to be served. And then use that positive energy to flash your waiter or waitress a genuine smile when you order.
2. Create A Bond
The more I read about human happiness, the more I can say that it greatly depends on our social life. If we feel like we have bonded with other people, we feel happier than when we have not bonded.
So, making someone feel like you and they have a bond will naturally increase their happiness and give you a better chance at making them smile.
For instance, if you are at the grocery market, and you challenge yourself to make the grumpy cashier smile, a genuine smile may work. But, before you flash that real smile, make them feel validated by you. Acknowledge their hard work. Acknowledge how good they are at their job. Acknowledge that they exist and matter! And once you have a social interaction of some sort that has created a bond, go ahead and smile. It will increase the chances of success.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this is EVERY SINGLE VIDEO by Special Books By Special Kids. This amazing guy creates bonds with everyone he interviews, flashes a genuine smile at them, and they all respond to him positively. The interviewees all have different conditions, and the videos are meant to bring awareness around those conditions, as well as increase understanding and acceptance for all people despite their conditions. You will notice most people are quick to smile and laugh because he makes them feel validated and respected. Following is just one recent video.
3. Point Out Things That Naturally Make Them Smile
Everyone has things that make them naturally feel good and smile. A nice day off. A loved one. A chocolate bar. You just need to know what things make them feel good and then make that the focus point of the conversation.
For instance, if they love the rain, point out the fact that it’s going to rain soon. Or, if they just bought a guitar and feel really excited, make your entire conversation about their guitar – and be enthusiastic about it. Or, if they often talk about a great memory fondly, bring up that memory.
Focus on those things that would generally make them feel good – and smile – and there’s a huge chance you will make them smile genuinely.
If you don’t know what those things are, start a conversation. People naturally talk about the things that make them feel good, so listen attentively and then pick out those things that obviously have importance to them. Then, talk about those things to help them feel good.
Now, go out there and make someone smile!
