An old-time mentor asked me this question today. Though, I feel that I don’t know much about this skill (“constructive confrontation”).
However, there are a few things that I have realized over the years by interacting with people over the last 10-12 years:
- Time is precious. Allocate it only to people who matter. Know your choices & priorities.
- Humbleness pays off in the long run – Always! Stay humble!
- Respond over React – Most problems take up fire due to quick unhealthy reactions.
- Use humor to defuse situations rather than to create “wild” situations.
- Most aggression problems are timing problems. Wrong things at the right time == right things at the wrong time (from an impact perspective). If someone is aggressive right now, it’s definitely the wrong time to react/respond.
- If someone is aggressive, they are in an emotional charge up! Leave the fight immediately.
- Rule of Three: If you cannot interpret what the other person is saying in three different interpretations, you probably don’t have an idea of what they are saying.
- Everything is a tradeoff: The more we go in one direction, the further we go in the other direction. Do we really have the time to go on with the fight?
- Action speaks louder than words: Kill them with your success, Bury them with your smile 🙂
- You can get success via talent, hustle, and resilience but to maintain it always have humbleness. People connect with People intrinsically. No one would want to hang out with you if you are just a wealthy jerk.