Bad news

Sometimes we have to tell news that is not so great.
I’m not talking about “one for your loved ones died” news.

I’m talking about news related to work.
We all know what that news looks like.

I used to make a mistake of presenting these sorts of news as really bad news.
I’d tell people literally that the news isn’t great (because I wanted them to know that I understand their pain).

Most of the time this would make the other person uncomfortable, and it would just backfire. Most of the time this person would feel even worse.

Instead, now I present the news as they are.

Neutral.

Now the other person decides if it’s bad news or not.
And if it is, I can still show the person that I understand how they feel.

And it makes a difference.

Thank you for reading.

K.

Pleasing everyone

What do you get when you try to please everyone?
You please none.

You certainly don’t have to be a jerk. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

But, you don’t need to please everyone.
Just as everyone doesn’t need to please you.

Thank you for reading.

K.

Habit

How do we change a bad habit?

It’s like solving a problem, really.

And how do we solve a problem?
Especially when it’s quite complex?

We take (a lot of) time to change one building block at a time.

And unlike what’s popular believe, no, you can’t break every habit in same fixed amount of time.
Depending on person and how long are you stuck with that habit until now, for some habits you’ll need 3 days (or hours), for some a month and for some 6 months (same for problems).

But remember, thought distortion is your worst enemy while changing any habit or a problem.

Thank you for reading.

K.

Customer is always right?

Today I went to buy a shower set.

I chose the set and went to the cashier, but I was surprised when I found out that the set costs 50% less than the price displayed.

As I was concerned for her and her colleagues getting in trouble if their boss finds out (who knows why this price was displayed wrong), I pointed to the cashier that there is a mistake. The price tag is wrong.

And she asked me why am I complaining if I’m paying less.

I was stunned.

She was taking so much negativity from the customers and colleagues at work, she automatically thought I was complaining. About paying less.

We really have no right to be jerks to people we are buying from just because we are customers. We should treat all people with respect.

This is true for both sides interested in making transaction.

Thank you for reading.

K.

Feel free to leave me a message if you have any ideas or thoughts, or let me know if you find some grammar mistakes (Dyslexics like me tend to wake them often 😉 ).

Don’t grab your knees!

Back when I was training Kyokushin Karate I learned one very important lesson.

And that is, no matter how tired I am when the fight on Tatami is over, I should never grab my knees to catch a breath.

To a physician, this doesn’t make sense because grabbing your knees is a natural way to breath more easily.

The fight is over (for now) so, we don’t have to worry about being hit again.

So why shouldn’t we grab our knees?

Because it is a sign of weakness.
If you stay up straight, you appear less tired, and this can make a difference in the referee’s eyes.
This can be the thing that will make you win or lose the fight/competition.

When you are fighting for air, barely standing and using your last atoms of energy, it is quite tough to stand up straight and not grab our knees.
But you can train yourself after some time physically and mentally to resist the urge to grab the knees and stand up straight.

It’s still tough, but it’s possible.

There are many things in our life that are hard to do.
We have many goals that can seem almost impossible to accomplish and parts of the journey that are hard to overcome.

But it is possible to train ourselves to hear the voice in ourselves when things get tough.

“Stand up straight! Don’t grab your knees!”

Thank you for reading.

K.

Feel free to leave me a message if you have any ideas or thoughts, or let me know if you find some grammar mistakes (Dyslexics like me tend to wake them often 😉 ).

Luck

People perceive luck mostly in two ways.

Eather giving all credit to luck (or lucky star).

I can’t do _________ because I have no luck.
She is luckier than I am, that’s why I can’t ________

Or, we believe there is no such thing as luck.
We believe all outcomes depend only on our deliberate actions.

But, the truth about luck, like with almost anything in this world, is somewhere in the middle.

Thank you for reading.

K.

Feel free to leave me a message if you have any ideas or thoughts, or let me know if you find some grammar mistakes (Dyslexics like me tend to wake them often 😉 ).

Blues is boring

Blues is boring.

That’s what many people say or think.

But it’s not about the blues.

It’s about the belief what blues is (or is not).
It’s about the perception of blues.

Blues is boring.
Unless we hear Howlin Wolf ‘s songs in the movie Wolf of Wallstreet.

Then it’s not boring.
Most people don’t even recognize it is blues.
But their perception was changed, so they don’t care. They like it. Even if they find out it is blues.

But if you ask them later “do you like blues?”, they will probably still say “It’s boring.”

Thank you for reading.

K.

Feel free to leave me a message if you have any ideas or thoughts, or let me know if you find some grammar mistakes (Dyslexics like me tend to wake them often 😉 ).