Positive Poise With Difficult People
Women whose nature is not to be confrontational, and who might have trouble standing up for themselves in difficult encounters, can benefit from coping skills that will help them maintain self-control and deal with others more effectively. If you've ever had trouble facing conflict and often find yourself backing down in tense situations, we have a 3-step process to help you keep your poise and stay in control:
1. Face Your Fears
Start by coming to terms with what blocks you--your fears. These might include fear of failure, hurting someone's feelings, rejection, financial loss and sometimes even injury of some sort. There are all kinds of reasons that people have fears, but when you keep your own attitudes and beliefs out of the picture and you learn to overcome your fears, confronting a difficult person becomes easier.
2. Relax
The next step is to learn to manage your anxiety. You may not be able to eliminate the apprehension that comes from confrontations with difficult people, but you can learn to manage it. Pay attention to the circumstances that make you feel anxious and then order them by the degree they impact or affect you. Next, devise and practice a method that helps you to find anxiety relief. Learn to connect relaxation rather than stress with these situations. It won't happen overnight. It took time for you to learn to be anxious and it will take time to learn to overcome it.
3. Let It Out
Last, but not least, let's talk about the anger we sometimes feel in a negative encounter. You can't escape it. It's a natural and useful emotion and can be positive if you can learn to express it in a positive way. Before you do anything rash, take that negative energy and let it loose in a private place. Yell, scream, kick a ball--the choice is up to you. Once you've let it all out, you'll be able to talk with the other person honestly and calmly about how you feel.
This process for keeping difficult people from ruining your day is just one method we recommend that will bring about amazing, positive changes in your life. And you'll find many more when you attend SkillPath's unique Conference for Women, coming soon to your area. Check out our schedule and enroll today!
