The small habit of asking about someone’s ordinary day can become a meaningful connection.

Closeness is usually built out of unremarkable material. Asking how the meeting went, whether the knee is better, if the bus was late again: none of it is profound on the day, and all of it compounds. After a year of small questions you know the shape of someone’s life well enough to notice when it changes.

Choose one person and ask about something ordinary you would not normally follow up on. Ask again next week. The point is not the answer but the fact that you remembered to ask.