Collette says: “The better we feel about ourselves, the fewer times we have to knock someone down to feel tall.”
When we say something negative about another person, it’s important for us to ask ourselves, where does that come from?
We’ve all done it before. When we do it, it usually doesn’t help the situation, and it certainly doesn’t help the person.
This usually comes from someone who doesn’t feel good about themselves.
When we’re hurting, we want to create the impression that we’re above others and that we are doing things right, and that they aren’t. That’s not the best because as soon as we say something negative about someone else, about what they’re not doing, or how they’re doing right in front of others, we’re only making the situation worse.
So today, get into action by saying only good things about others. And if something’s wrong and not okay, it doesn’t mean that we ignore it and don’t deal with it but that we’re not talking down to the person.
Instead, we’re talking about what’s wrong with a process, what’s wrong with the outcome, as opposed to knocking down a human.
Be conscious of this because those words can be hurtful. And as you knock somebody else down, sometimes they stay down. And that’s going to be hard to live with.
Bring people’s spirits up instead, by only saying positive things about people behind their back. And if it’s a management thing where you have to talk about what isn’t done, that’s different.
Bring those challenges to managers with a request for a change, not a complaint.