Today I did some mentoring with a wonderful woman who has a fantastic fledgling business and who is working really hard to get her brand out there.

We had a great conversation about the tactics required to do this and afterwards we talked a bit about her personally. It had been really tough due to various things going on in her life and after she left I felt that I hadn’t said enough to encourage her to keep going.

So, I sent you a quick message to say that I thought she was brilliant and that she should keep going. That made me feel better because I’d missed the nuance of what our small talk had meant.

In life, it’s easy to miss things sometimes when you’re talking to people. This could be a number of things – thinking of the next thing to say, worrying about your own problems or even thinking about what’s for lunch. All are distractors and can create enough noise to miss something critical. I pride myself in giving people quality time – but I’m also realistic enough to know that sometimes you miss something.

Why have I called this post Feeling of Goodwill? Because in order to create goodwill, you have to feel it – not just from your side but from every side.

When you next have a conversation with someone, try to focus on what they don’t say, not what they do say and you may be surprised about what it tells you.

My mentee came back to my response a while later to thank me and say that it had made her feel better – one happy Wendy House.

The photo is of our Christmas tree in the office – something else that makes me feel good.