Probably My Most Powerful Interpersonal Communication Hack Is To, Whenever Possible, Ask Either/or Questions

probably my most powerful interpersonal communication hack is to, whenever possible, ask either/or questions rather than yes/no questions

for example, when chatting with coworkers, i’ll often ask if they have any fun weekend plans. but let’s be real - we all feel like friendless losers when someone asks that question and we go “uhhhhh… no.” so instead, i phrase it as “so, do you have anything fun planned over the weekend, or are you just going to enjoy having some time to relax?”

phrased like this, there’s rarely any awkwardness. you’ve presented two options & given both equally positive connotations, so your conversational partner has an automatic “out,” so to speak

but it works for higher stakes conversations too!!!! my mom was saying this weekend how she and her neighbor both like walking around the neighborhood & that she wanted to suggest they take a walk together sometime, but was worried about how to approach the conversation

so i said “how about you just say ‘i’ve noticed we both like taking walks! would you be interested in going for one together, or do you use walks for some precious alone time?’”

now Walking Neighbor has an automatic “get out of jail free card” if she wants to say no!!!! which means my mom doesn’t have to worry about the conversation being uncomfortable, because she’s set it up to go smoothly

either/or questions rather than yes/no questions. it is really like magic

More Posts from Chemococktailonthehouse and Others

i already knew all of the talking points on an intellectual level but actually maining a healer in the ranked mode of a hero shooter has firmly radicalized me against anyone complaining about healers on their team. "why am i not getting any heals" well, dps player, i am actually doing the trolley car problem once every few seconds where i have to choose who to heal and who to let die, except it's really easy because the answer is just "heal the tank" every single time. no i cannot stop healing them for long enough to heal you because then they will die and their life is worth more than yours because they clicked on a tank during hero select. go take your anger out on the enemy backline

11 months ago

I can confidently say that a good 70-80% of my speech patterns are mine. However, almost 95% of the phrases I use are not

sorry for picking up your online speech patterns. I liked them.

Remember: The More Difficult You Make It For Them To Realize A Report Is False, The More Useless You

Remember: the more difficult you make it for them to realize a report is false, the more useless you make the portal.

11 months ago

This is how I’m telling my kids I got to school

JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig
JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig

JOURNEY TO THE REAL WORLD BARBIE (2023) dir. Greta Gerwig


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10 months ago

Some guy named Tornado is trying to warn me about something

a beautiful woman named excessive heat warning keeps messaging me on my phone


Tags
11 months ago

+ and when you think of me all of those years ago you’re standing face to face with “I told you so”

L + ratio + when you wake up next to him in the middle of the night with your head in your hands you're nothing more than his wife


Tags
11 months ago

One of the (many) things I love about Kaz Brekker is that he actually has a very strict moral code - it’s just very broad and no-one else knows what it is

He Wants A Pup Cup

he wants a pup cup

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chemococktailonthehouse - Yappa Yappa Yappa
Yappa Yappa Yappa

Got some fics rattling around in the ol’ noggin. May write about it. AO3 is @cozy_josieJosie | 23 | She/TheyPlease ask me questions(or just tell me your favorite color) :)

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