“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain — and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving”
It’s easy enough to point out the faults in others. None of us are perfect and we all make rather easy targets. However, putting other people down doesn’t help you get any higher. It is far greater to understand and empathize than it is to condemn and criticize.
Dale Carnegie is perhaps best known for How to Win Friends and Influence People
While Carnegie’s approach had more to do with influencing others for your own benefit, it still holds a lesson that is valuable and powerful in our everyday exchanges. Ted Koppel reminded us of the importance of decency and respect, for instance. Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish historian and satirist, puts it another way:
“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.”
There is nothing wrong with ambition. Just remember not to look down on others when you reach the top.
Everything in self help books is really common sense techniques that we as individuals tend to not adhere to. If we would all actually do what Dale Carnegie tells us in his most powerful book we would create a better world overall.
Unfortunately, most of us react with our hearts, or emotions that makes life interesting to say the least.
Here is my one learned tip that has saved me many a time: Pissed off? Gonna say something to someone either via email or in person? Write down what you want to say, all of it unedited in a text editor. Reread it, look at what you are saying and rewrite it. Repeat this step at least 5 times, or until you have something that if you were the person receiving the email would not feel like you were being attacked.