Tag: conflict
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A Request to PLEASE Do This Important, Simple Thing Already
So I’ve noticed a trend lately, and it’s not a good one. In fact, it can be hurtful for all involved. I being with a few examples from just the past few weeks. See if you notice a pattern. Friend #1 recently won a major cooking competition. When I excitedly told him how proud I…
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Why You MUST Do “That Thing”
Last week I found myself having a coffee chat with a woman I met at a recent event. It was meant to be a “let’s-get-to-know-each-other” kind of coffee. But then…she started talking (a lot) about her work. It’s the kind of business where she sells a product that she believes in, then recruits other people…
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3 Words to Stop Making People Mad at You
A few weeks ago Hubbie and I found ourselves traveling to Prague for a quick weekend of touring before a work project began. All was going just peachy for the first 11 hours of our first flight…until we realized we were landing very late. And our already tight layover time…was now super-duper tight. Which led…
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What to do About the (Stupid) Stuff You Can’t Do Anything About
So last week saw the Maloneys taking part in a ritual that most of us – even in the best of circumstances – hate. I mean really, really hate. We moved. Which meant that, for a loooong time, our former living room looked like this: As if the move itself wasn’t enough of a…challenge, a…
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How to Stop Making Your Life Worse
So I had a bit of a revelation last week. It began first thing one morning, just as the alarm went off. As my arm swung over to shut it off, the following thought rushed in… …Man, that was a terrible night sleep. I’m going to be off my game today. I then began thinking…
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How to Have a Crappy Conversation
This week brought an interesting theme. Two of my colleagues – and me – all found ourselves in a universally dreaded situation. We had to have crappy conversations. And they Stressed. Us. Out. (Nooooo sleeping here.) Colleague #1? He had to tell his somewhat-non-performing staff member who really loved working from home…that he would no…
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The Boomerang Effect
A recent work trip found me networking with two women I hadn’t met before. It didn’t take long before I noticed a pattern pop up. Let’s see if you catch it. Woman #1: Whew, it’s so great to be here because I thought I might not make it. My daughter just had her wisdom teeth…
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Digging Out of the Talking-Trap
I fell into a trap recently. A talking-trap. A guy-who-wouldn’t-stop-talking-to-me-no-matter-what-I-did trap. It happened while Hubbie and I were vacationing in a rented RV up in the wine country. It turns out the small-ish living space inside the RV had nothing on the teensy space outside of it. Case and point? Here’s a photo of our…
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The Truth About Your Stuck-ness
So…you may have missed it, but we recently passed through another holiday. Groundhog Day. It’s a funny little holiday with a funny little tradition, involving – some might say – a funny little animal. While most of us don’t get too caught up in Groundhog Day, many of us do remember the famous Groundhog Day…
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Your Critical Choice for the New Year
Well, the days leading into this fine new year had a bit of an unexpected flavor. I present to you two different scenarios, and invite you to figure out which one is true. Scenario #1 Just as we were getting down to the holiday, I pushed my body to the point where I caught a…
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When Frustration Hits…Ask Yourself This
Recently I found myself engaging in an annoying pattern of behavior. In just the past two weeks there have been several instances when I’ve tried to open a package of some kind. Once it was a hotel bar of soap. Once it was a packet of Vitamin C. Once it was a bag of airplane…
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How to Lighten Your REAL Load
Today finds me writing my blog not from my home state of California…but from my original home state of New York. How do I know I’m in the Empire State? The stores are filled with this… …and the guys wear hats like this (and smile like this)… The thing that brought me to the east…