Weekly Challenge – Begin with…

Starting 2025 with weekly challenges again. This week’s challenge comes from the ‘How to win friends and influence people’ book.

Whether at work or home, we usually have someone that we need to have an uncomfortable discussion with. The uncomfortable discussion of something they did wrong or not following the rules. I don’t know about you,but I hate these discussions because usually it’s the persons blind spot where they don’t even realize they are doing something wrong. The worst thing you can do is let the behavior continue though.

Here comes your challenge. Before you engage in conversation with the person , think of a few things they are doing well or something you like about them. This is what you start the conversation out with. This needs to be from the heart and not fake. People can tell when you are being fake.

Begin with praise and appreciation. This will have the person you are talking with be more open minded to the real point you are trying to make. They let their guard down to allow you to build them up.

Who do you need to have conversation with this week?

What positive things can you talk about in the beginning?

How can you build them up instead of tearing them down?