What Is Adam Grant's Pebbling, According to Mel Robbins?

Mel Robbins describes pebbling, the idea she is passing on from Adam Grant. The term comes from penguins that present a smooth, shiny pebble while courting, a small gesture that says they might be suitable for building a nest. The modern version, she says, is sending someone a meme, a link, a reel, or an article. It is not spamming people with random junk. It is choosing a small thing you know will resonate, and it says I thought of you, I know you, I see you. Every pebble is a bid for connection.

She says studies find that if you meet someone new and a week or a month later send a pebble that matches their sense of humor, they feel closer because you got them. She passes on Adam Grant's example of a Macaulay Culkin and Ryan Gosling shirt meme, and a dormant tie: someone you have not talked to in years, reached with a specific show, as in just finishing the new season of Ted Lasso and telling them an episode has them written all over it. That person feels you remembered their taste. Mel Robbins says she loves what Dr. Grant said. You paid attention, and you created a reason to reconnect.

Her own example is her husband bringing home a five-dollar grocery-store bouquet and putting it in a mason jar. She knows he was thinking of her while running an errand, and that he remembered she loves flowers no matter what they are. Thinking about buying the flowers does not count.