Friday, February 10, 2012

How to Get Along with People You "Don’t Like"

A young acting teacher gave me some great advice when I was a teenager.  When you have to work with a scene partner and you don't like them, pick one thing you admire about them and focus on that.  You will start to like them.  Sure they are emphatic, spacey, corny.  But are they brainy, disciplined, happy-go-lucky, or persevering?  It worked.  I became life long friends with this person.  ;)

"Our egos are primitive; if somebody strokes them, that somebody is good, and if somebody kicks them, that somebody is bad."

The next time you run into someone who isn't making your life fabulous, instead of focusing on the negative, focus on what is worth emulating in this person.  Unless they have distasteful characteristics like dishonesty, a lack of integrity, or a tendency to try to bully. 

The effect takes a couple of weeks to kick in.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/321/6/5/froggy_the_annoying_orange_by_t95master-d3325zc.png