Balancing Act: The Newsletter (No. 145: September 2011)
Alan Weiss
Excerpts:
Techniques for balance
• Stop the non-stop talkers by saying, “We haven’t heard from Brenda about that experience yet. How did you enjoy it?”
• Some of us hear a new idea and explore whether we can use it to improve our lives. Some of us hear a new idea and try to immediately debunk it. Which life do you want to lead?
• If you seek genuine help, ask genuine questions, not lazy ones. “What should I have asked you that I haven’t?” is hackneyed and dumb. But, “What are the three things you would have done differently at this point?” will provide terrific insight.
• The problem with almost any test and its results is that people think they are universal and accurate truths. Behavior tells you far more than a “score” or “profile” will any day.
• You have two choices with annoying actions and behaviors of others: Deal with it or forget about it. But fretting is not an option.
• Engage the host or hostess in 30 seconds of polite greeting and you’ll probably get the table you request. Demand the table, on the other hand, and you probably won’t.
• My wife was asked at a celebratory lunch to choose a good bottle of wine because of her expertise. “I have no expertise, and any idiot can choose a good wine for $150,” she observed. A colleague corrected her: “Only an idiot with $150.”
• Regimens can be quite successful and productive, but not if they’re mindless. Step back on occasion and ask if there’s a better way to start the morning, or exercise, or deal with the kids, or choose some recreation.
• If you heeded every current piece of advice on what is bad for you to eat, you’d make a vegan appear to be a reckless gourmand.
• Remember that passionate people try to influence, but zealots try to convert. How do you want to be perceived, and with whom do you want to spend your time?
• Stop the non-stop talkers by saying, “We haven’t heard from Brenda about that experience yet. How did you enjoy it?”
• Some of us hear a new idea and explore whether we can use it to improve our lives. Some of us hear a new idea and try to immediately debunk it. Which life do you want to lead?
• If you seek genuine help, ask genuine questions, not lazy ones. “What should I have asked you that I haven’t?” is hackneyed and dumb. But, “What are the three things you would have done differently at this point?” will provide terrific insight.
• The problem with almost any test and its results is that people think they are universal and accurate truths. Behavior tells you far more than a “score” or “profile” will any day.
• You have two choices with annoying actions and behaviors of others: Deal with it or forget about it. But fretting is not an option.
• Engage the host or hostess in 30 seconds of polite greeting and you’ll probably get the table you request. Demand the table, on the other hand, and you probably won’t.
• My wife was asked at a celebratory lunch to choose a good bottle of wine because of her expertise. “I have no expertise, and any idiot can choose a good wine for $150,” she observed. A colleague corrected her: “Only an idiot with $150.”
• Regimens can be quite successful and productive, but not if they’re mindless. Step back on occasion and ask if there’s a better way to start the morning, or exercise, or deal with the kids, or choose some recreation.
• If you heeded every current piece of advice on what is bad for you to eat, you’d make a vegan appear to be a reckless gourmand.
• Remember that passionate people try to influence, but zealots try to convert. How do you want to be perceived, and with whom do you want to spend your time?
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