Entries Tagged 'Relationships' ↓

As this nice 70’s song suggests, smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend (or don’t tell the truth). Be cautious of each new person in your life until they prove their genuine intentions. Only then will you be able to see whether they’re smiling to you with good or with hidden bad intentions.

Thanks for watching!

Image by Ronaldo Cabuhat

Let me start with a story this time: John, a young ambitious entrepreneur needed a partner to create a new store for portable computers. He knew that his friend Alan was good with technology and had sufficient laptop knowledge, so he thought he made the right choice to make him his colleague.

They decided that one of them would work three days per week, than the other one would take over the salesdesk for another three.

As time went by, John noticed that Alan wasn’t very serious about their business. Al would close the store two hours early and didn’t really seem to care when a customer entered the store. I’ll tell you what happened next in just a minute.

In my world, there are three kinds of people. Those who seem trustworthy but will selfishly deceive you sooner or later. Those who don’t care for anything and everyone else sees that. And the third, must-know type, who have found the right combination between helping others and their own personal interests.

Always be on the search for the third kind and be cautious with the first.

Anyway, let’s check out what happened to John and Alan’s fairly new computer store.

People started noticing that one of the salespeople from John & Al Portable simply refused to help them, no matter how much money they were ready to pay for a new device or tech support. So they just started to go to a store 10 minutes away with a much friendlier staff. Needless to say, the store failed and John made a mistake he’ll never forget. He hadn’t thought that Alan was a good friend, but not a good business partner.

Don’t make John’s mistake.

Do you know contagiously joyful people that charge you with positive energy only with their presence?

In case you don’t, it’s about time you met one or even became one yourself. Try giving others a smile when they don’t seem to have one and the results will be magical. You’ll instantly become the person to be with in any situation.

How to make others happier using 8 simple tricks

1. Listen. Everyone wants to be heard much more than they want to hear.
2. Compliment. It’s the details that matter. If your girl has bought a new blouse, say that the color really suits her.
3. Smile. The good thing about smiling is that it’s always welcomed and often contagious.
4. Remember. Ask your colleague if he or she has fixed her car problem. It means you really listened the last time the two of you talked.
5. Give help. But only when you’re asked for it.
6. Be serious. From time to time, people need serious conversations without gossip or fun jokes. Be that guy or gal when necessary.
7. Do what is needful. Give hugs, kisses, pats on the shoulder or simple “you’ll do fine” messages, depending on the person you’re talking to.
8. Be honest. Most people know when you’re lying, so just be frank with them.

The skills mentioned need time and will to be mastered. But a combination of at least three of them can make you a great communicator. Thanks for taking the time to read this article!

Written by CBSE Sample Papers

Here is a task for all you readers for today. Think about the person you dislike the most, preferably someone related to your profession. Take a notepad and write ten reasons why you dislike him.

Do not get carried away and write reasons like “I just don’t like him”. Be honest and impartial.

Done? What are you waiting for?

Done now?

Good!

Now look at the reasons again keeping you in the mind. Yes, think it like this way – If someone else was to write such a list about you, will these reasons appear in that list? Put a check mark beside every reason that you think people will say about you. Again, be honest and impartial because you won’t again anything by lying to yourself.

Now you know what your shortcomings are. Take another sheet of paper and write the solution to each shortcoming. Solution may be one time, or something to follow daily, but make sure you write it down.

Now keep this paper in your drawer. And every morning go through it. When you have done every solution (for daily ones, keep a 30 day limit), redo the exercise.

This will help you find your own mistakes and solve them yourself without embarrassment.

Hope each one of you find this useful. If you have any similar self-improvement tasks in mind, leave it in the comments on mail it to me.

“Sure that we can talk, as long as we don’t say too much.” That’s one of my favorite mafia movie quotes worth mentioning. Often people have the bad habit to share too much. More than enough details or more than enough personal opinions and feelings can make more harm than good.

A piece of Dale Carnegie’s best advice of all time is to praise publicly and criticize silently. Nobody likes to be condemned or criticized in front of others, nor to be commented behind his own back.

So if you’re willing to maintain positive relationships, pay detailed attention to what you say. Talk freely without saying too much.