Alternatives to “How are you?”

What have you been up to today?

Did anything make you smile today?

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

It became very clear in 2020 that asking people “how are you?” is an ineffective way to start a conversation.

Why? It’s vague. It’s not specific enough and doesn’t provide any particular frame of reference to reflect on. It doesn’t acknowledge the complexity of existence. It can be especially triggering these days. It doesn’t build rapport.

And it doesn’t matter how cheery or genuine our tone is when the words come out of our mouths so automatically. How do we answer such a question? Do we always want to? And you can tell when people don’t really care to know the answer.

Think about the last time someone asked you this (probably within the past few days), and vice versa. Did your brain immediately run into a brick wall? Did you give it any thought? How did the other person sounds?

An empty question means an empty response.

To me, this has been a dud of an opener long before 2020. As far as I can remember back, it’s never really meant anything other than a convoluted way to say “hey”. We’ve all had those hallway experiences where people ask how you are while they continue walking in the other direction.

We need some alternatives, and author and speaker Kat Vellos has come to the rescue with two handy lists of creative, specific, and engaging alternatives to “how are you?” I even printed it out and pinned it to my wall so I can reference it when I meet with people. The ones above are three of my favorites and have been working well in both friend chats and coaching calls.

Feel free to leave a comment with any salutations that have worked well for you lately.