Be Friendly and Polite. If you step outside your house during the day, you’re likely to encounter people, so try to be friendly. Even on miserable days when everything seems to be going wrong, forcing a smile has the potential to lift the mood of not only the person you’re looking at but yours as well. Offer a greeting, and you might even see an extra ray of sunshine. Certain words carry a tremendous amount of power when you care enough to be polite and civil to others. Add “please,” “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and “excuse me” to your vocabulary, and you may find others responding with reciprocated kindness.