address people by name more often

It just dawned on me that I’ve been doing this a lot more lately. Not exactly on purpose either—I was just thinking that I use people’s first names a lot more than I used to… so this goal is accomplished with little actual effort on my part. I’ll try to keep it up, hopefully it makes people feel a little more special when I use their names…good luck I hope more people start doing this too!

A person’s name is in a way the interface between the very personal and the public, the official. When people address me by my name, my heart goes out to them, especially my first name. Here in Germany, people tend to address one another by last name and that establishes a different kind of relationship and creates a different feeling. Still, even in the most cursory and meaningless context, the name adds the sense of belonging and being there. My problem is my horrible memory for names. I hardly ever address people by name either because I’m afraid I’ll use the wrong one by accident or because I don’t remember the person’s name at all.

So the solution would be to make a conscious effort to remember people’s names. One of my strategies is to find photographs of people and attach them to my address book entry (on the Computer). That makes it a bit easier.

I love it when people address me by name. Well, from close friends sometimes it sounds too formal, but from coworkers it is great. I have never gotten into the habit but it’s a small way of seeming more professional and I have to work on being more mature and professional in general.