When you don’t have all the facts, try to give people the most generous reason you can for their behaviour. Annoyingly slow driver? Maybe it’s a mom with a birthday cake in the back. This mindset will gradually make you less reactive, more compassionate and more forgiving of your own bad days.
Also known as the “Most Respectful Interpretation” rule. What’s the most kind reason we can come up with for why said person is being such an ass?
As an additional benefit, coming up with these explanations is usually a nice distraction from whatever was annoying.
If you have the unfortunate experience of having to put a pet down, find a vet that will make a house call. Don’t let your pet’s last moments be somewhere they are afraid of.
Lap of Love is a good at-home euthanasia service.
As a leader, give praise in public and give discipline in private.
In an old job in “Corporate America” I had a manager who would always share with employees encouragement and kind words of praise within earshot of other employees, and would offer words of critisicm and suggestions for improvement in private (in his office or a conference room). This set up an environment of positive reinforcement and gave employees respect and honesty they needed to perform at a higher level.
Go to a community college for a few years and then transfer to a University after you reach the maximum transferable credit limits. You’ll save about 50% on tuition depending on your state
Make sure the college you plan to transfer to will actually accept your credits. Do this by going to that college with a list of the community college courses, and asking which will be transferred.
If you don’t do this, half or more of your community college credits may not be accepted.
Instead of feeling that you’ve blown the day and thinking, “I’ll get back on track tomorrow,” try thinking of each day as a set of four quarters: morning, midday, afternoon, evening. If you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter.
I’ve been successful with weight loss with this mind set. Had a meal that wasn’t the best choices, next meal you can make good choices.
If someone slights/insults you publicly during a meeting, pretend like you didn’t hear them the first time and politely ask them to repeat themself. They’ll either double-down & repeat the insult again, making them look rude & unprofessional. Or they’ll realize their mistake & apologize to you.
One of the most important questions you can ask in a debate/argument is, “What proof or evidence would it take to change your mind/opinion?” If they can’t give you an answer or if they refuse to accept the evidence that they asked for, then quit wasting your time arguing with that person.
Keep your mouth shut, and don’t volunteer information
I had a phone interview scheduled this morning, but accidentally slept through it. When I got up and saw that I missed it, I had the desperate urge to call and offer up excuses, in the hope that maybe, just maybe, they’d be understanding and give me another chance.
Instead, all I did was apologize and ask if we could reschedule. That’s it, one sentence, no additional information, no explanation or excuse as to why I missed the first interview.
They replied within 20 minutes, apologizing to ME, saying it was probably their fault, that they’d been having trouble with their computer system for days, and of course I could reschedule, was I available that afternoon?
Don’t ever volunteer information, kids. You never know what information the other party has, and you can always give information if asked for it later.
If you tell someone a secret they are almost definitely going to tell their spouse, even if you promise them to secrecy. The best way to keep a secret is to keep it to yourself.
You may not like being in pictures or taking them, but you will hate that you have no photos of some time period when you’re older. Take pictures even if it is out of your comfort zone occasionally, for your future self.
My wife has taken hundreds of pictures throughout our marriage and I only recently started. She has basically documented the whole time we’ve been together and I am extremely grateful for it. She has pictures from the day we met that we wouldn’t have if she didn’t snap a quick ‘for memories’ picture. You may hate the way you look, but years from now you will be glad you ignored that and took a photo.
If you are strapped for cash and need food, instead of trying Ramen and Noodles, buy rice and bean. It’s super cheap and has decent nutritional value. Buy bags of frozen veggies to spice it up. Optimal balance of vitamins, fiber, carbs, protein, and everything else to keep you quite healthy.
Normalize teaching your kids that safe adults don’t ask you to keep secrets from other adults
My buddy told me a story some 20 years ago about how his dad tried to make a secret with my buddies daughter, about ‘checking for bugs in her pants’. His daughter didn’t keep it a secret thank god!
When a dealership tells you the vehicle is on the lot or will hold the vehicle for you and then tells you it was sold when you get there, leave. They pulled a bait and switch on you.
This is a very common tactic to bring customers to the lot. Half of the work in selling a car is to get the buyer to come to the dealership. I have found that most of the dealerships that pull this tactic are not ones to be trusted; they showed you that they are willing to trick you so you can come to them, they have a mindset of tricking their customers for profit. If they don’t have your vehicle then leave and continue your car search, dealerships like these are more trouble than they are worth.
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