Now there’s a question?
Well apart from “Wear more Sunscreen”, that’s a very good question isn’t it?
And one I’m sure we all ask ourselves when we get to a certain vintage.
I’ll be 58 this August. No secret there, it’ll came up on my LinkedIn profile on the 4th August and it’s also visible on my Twitter account @Paul_Mudd too.
For the past few years on that date I’ve been getting a number of marvelous congratulatory messages via social media — as well as some expressing a certain incredulity, along the following lines, or similar — “What, you still alive, how did you manage that???”
Clearly some people have no faith! And it’s even more disconcerting when one of those people is actually your Mother!!
Anyway it’s got me to thinking what might be the advice I would give a younger me — around say when I was 18 years of age, or there abouts.
A time in the UK, when you’ve completed your A’ Levels and will be preparing perhaps for University. Or, about to take a ‘gap year’. Or, in my case back in the 1970’s, just about to join the world of work (sort of) and begin my training as a fledgling newpaper reporter — As Lord Denning, then ‘Master of The Rolls’, described me one bright morning at London’s Central Criminal Court of England & Wales, or the ‘Old Bailey’, as it’s more affectiionately known by those in the dock!
Well, here’s my Advice — from Me now to Me back then, so to speak:
- Never criticize, condemn or complain
- Always give honest & sincere appreciation
- Seek to arouse in everyone you meet an eager want
- Be genuinely interested in other people
- SMILE — more than you want to and especially when you don’t want to
- Remember the other person’s name & be a good listener
- Be sincere and always try to make the other person feel important
- Respect the other persons opinion, always
- If you are wrong and you will be, admit it, quickly & emphatically
- Always begin in a friendly way
- Help the other person to say ‘YES’ ‘YES’ ‘YES’
- Let others do most of the talking
- Try to see things from the other persons ‘Point of View’
- Appeal to ‘Nobler Motives’
- Dramatise your Ideas
- Throw down a challenge
- Start with praise & honest appreciation
- Call attention to the mistakes of others only indirectly
- Talk about your own mistakes first, before criticising someone else
- Ask questions instead of giving orders
- Let the other person save face
- Lavishly praise every improvement, however slight
- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to
- Use encouragement. Make any fault seem easy to correct
- Make the other person feel happy about doing the thing you suggest
- Believe in everybody’s capacity to be better, &
- Wear more ‘Sunscreen
So, what advice would you give the Younger You?
Make it good and I might even Tweet it 🙂
Paul Mudd is the author of ‘Uncovering Mindfulness: In Search Of A Life More Meaningful’ available on Amazon and www.bookboon.com; the ‘Coffee & A Cup of Mindfulness’ and the ‘Mindful Hacks For Mindful Living & Mindful Working’ series. He is also a Contributing Author to The Huffington Post and a Contributing Writer to Thrive Global. Through The Mudd Partnership he works with business leaders, organisations and individuals in support of change, leadership excellence, business growth, organistional and individual wellbeing and well doing, and introducing Mindfulness. He can be contacted at [email protected] and you can follow the continuing journey uncovering Mindfulness on Twitter @TheMindfulBook and at @Paul_Mudd
Originally published at journal.thriveglobal.com