At times, I spot things and am not sure, whether to close my eyes and pretend I never saw it, or to bring it to the attention of someone.
In those instances, there is one question I like to ask myself:
Would I want to know?
If the answer is “Yes, I would want to know” then I know what to do. In the end, to grow, we need to know what to improve. I am not a perfectionist – nor would I advise anyone else to be one – but the devil is in the detail, and attention to detail truly does matter.
The next step is to deliver the message nicely. Can it be formulated in a way that is not affronting? Can it be said so gentle, that it does not feel like criticism?
Many of you may be familiar with a quote from Maya Angelou:
“People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.”
We clearly are not clairvoyant. No matter how emphatic we are, we can’t foresee the other person’s reaction. Sometimes what we consider helpful may not actually be helpful. We may even want to ask: “Is this at all helpful to you?”. We won’t ever be mind readers, but the more questions we ask, the better we will understand others.
If we help others grow, we grow ourselves. Life is like a big circle.
