What’s next for 2014? How about a little civility? Our world is so connected; so digital; so electronic; we lose sight of the human connections that make our lives complete.

It is so incredibly easy to write an e-mail and hit ‘send;’ or text someone a question, that we often never make that human connection. Remember the days when you’d phone someone and ask, “How are you doing?” It seems no one really cares how the other person is doing these days. Each of us is so tied up with whatever the deadline of the moment is that we are just happy to get a reply email from the person we reached within a day or so.

What could be happening is that we forget how to talk to each other. When we are in the same room together eye-to-eye and face-to-face, we have no patience; we react too quickly we fail to listen.

I saw a TV spot from Values.com that expresses the need for civility. While the message is that a little kindness goes a long way, what we also need to do is get in the room with people more often and just listen. Have a conversation that goes back and forth; try not to interrupt while the other person – or people – are trying to make their points. Share your thoughts; ask questions when you don’t understand and for heaven’s sake, be civil.

When you can have an actual conversation with a person or a group of people and leave the room with a smile and some satisfaction that something got accomplished, you have renewed the human connections needed to get from one day to the next.

Among the goals you set for 2014, consider making a phone call to a business associate, friend or family member at least once a week – just to ask, “how are you doing?” Show appreciation; say “thank you;” and when someone thanks YOU – reply with, “you’re welcome.” Better yet – try “my pleasure.” And say it with a smile.