"According to Leonard and Natalie Zunin, co-authors of the book Contact: The First Four Minutes, the way two people communicate during the first four minutes of contact is so crucial that it will determine the way the relationship will continue. They refer to it as breaking the four-minute barrier.
. . . it is the average time it takes to decide to part or continue their encounter."
Quoted by Selwyn Hughes
Bethany House Publishers 1983
p. 67
The first person that came to mind is my supervisor. She is a GREAT 4-minuter! I still remember my first day working with her. I'm sort of shy, but introductions are necessary so I stepped up to her open office door to do so. Besides her huge brown-eyed smile, I saw shelves and shelves of nun figures. Not boxes of this, files of that -- but nuns. "Come on in," she said -- an inviting, genuine, with-hint-of-humor "Come in." She's a great supervisor--no nonsense, yes; but fun. That's a great combo, don't you think? (And Susan, this blog has nothing to do with my review coming up in a couple weeks.)
I asked my husband, Ray, if he remembered our first "four minutes" of meeting. All he remembers is hugging everyone in the room but me. And I? Same memory; I hugged everyone in the room but him. We didn't want our "liking" to be too obvious. (Where does everyone hug every stranger or non-stranger in the place? A prayer meeting.)
I would love to hear about one of your 4-minute encounters.
Sometimes Growing is Fun,
Lonnie
