Archive for August, 2008


  • Dealing with Difficult People

    Posted on 08.27.08 | 389 Comments

    difficult-people.jpg
    Photo: Stock Photo

    Can you recall the last time you had to deal with a negative or difficult person? Or the last time someone said something with the intention of hurting you? How did you handle it? What was the result? What can you do in the future to get through these situations with peace and grace?


    No matter where we go, we will face people who are negative, people who oppose our ideas, people who piss us off or people who simply do not like us. There are 6.4 billion people out there and conflict is a fact of life. This fact isn’t the cause of conflict but it is the trigger to our emotions and our emotions are what drive us back to our most basic survival instinct; react and attack back to defend ourselves.

    In these instinctual moments, we may lose track of our higher selves and become the human animal with an urge to protect ourselves when attacked. This too is natural. However, we are the only animal blessed with intelligence and having the ability to control our responses. So how can we do that?

    I regularly get asked “How do you deal with the negative comments about your articles? They are brutal. I don’t think I could handle them.” My answer is simple, “I don’t let it bother me to begin with.” It wasn’t always this simple, and took me some time before overcoming this natural urgency to protect myself and attack back.

    I know it’s not easy, if it was easy, there wouldn’t be difficult or negative people to begin with.

    (read more…)



    Popular search terms for this article:

    dealing with difficult people, how to deal with difficult people, how to handle difficult people, how to deal with mean people, difficult people, working with difficult people, handling difficult people, how to deal with angry people, how do you deal with difficult people, dealing with people

    Filed under: clarity, happiness   

  • Pen Zen: Bring Clarity to Writing

    Posted on 08.05.08 | 82 Comments

    writing-clarity2.jpg
    Photo via g2slp

    By Jesse Hines

    Have you ever read an email from someone that was too wordy, lacked focus, and left you confused? How can we learn from reading such emails to improve our own communication? How do we compose emails and writings that others will actually want to read?

    The ability to write clearly is crucial to getting your message across no matter what you’re writing, whether it’s an email, a blog post, a magazine article, or a letter to a friend. Clear and concise writing is vital to having your words read and understood.

    The whole purpose of most writing is to inform readers of something or to persuade people to do something. The more clear and concise your language, the easier your message will be understood, and the more likely your readers will respond to that message.

    Before you can write clearly, you have to be able to think clearly. A big reason many writers don’t see desired success in conveying their message is that they were not focused on a clear message. Good writing usually stems directly from clear thinking.

    In this post, we’ll first look at some common obstacles to clear thinking and writing, then offer some suggestions to develop the mental state for clear writing, and finally give some specific writing tips that, if implemented, will immediately add that magic touch of clarity to your writing.
    (read more…)



    Popular search terms for this article:

    penzen, clarity in writing, pen zen, keys to improving clarity in writing, how to improve clarity in writing, zen writing, what is clarity in writing, how to write with clarity, keys to adding clarity to your writing, writing with clarity

    Filed under: clarity, creativity