You win, I win, we All win

     One of my personal requirements this year is to increase the amount that I read. To be exact, I have twelve titles that I am going to read over the next twelve months. I have always had issues reading. Not that I can't read, but it is more the fact of having difficulty narrowing my focus enough to concentrate on reading. This requirement for me is dual purpose. The titles that were chosen are ones that will also help me develop, both in my personal life and in business.
     The book that I am currently reading is "Tongue Fu" which they paraphrase as being the Kung Fu of language. Seems like a legitimate title for a Kung Fu challenge. This book was recommended in a class that I attended a few years ago at NAIT while taking Project Management. There was a guest teacher at the time from one of the software companies in Edmonton, BioWare. He was a very charismatic person and I thought "I need to read that book". That Christmas "Tongue Fu" magically appeared under the tree. For the next couple of years it bounced from bookshelf to bookshelf but I never made the time to actually sit and read it. One of the awesome things about setting goals for yourself, and making a commitment to achieve those goals, is that you actually do some of the things that you maybe didn't before.
     The premise of the book is that by altering the way you react in certain discussions you increase the chances of finding resolution instead confrontation. I am only part way through but have found so many lessons to be learned. One, that has a direct link to one of our other requirements, came from a quote that is in one of the chapters.

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves"

     Every time you take a second to do something nice for someone else, it also makes you feel a little bit better. In an argument there is no winner, there are just a couple of people who can't believe that the other can't see their side of things. Changing the way that you converse with someone, especially in an argument, you can show them that you are listening to them. This doesn't mean that you have to agree with them but showing that you care enough to listen gives you the opportunity to transform a possible argument into a constructive conversation.
     In accepting the commitment of reading I have found myself not only reading the titles that were submitted but also lots of other blogs, bios and other material I find. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of I Ho Chuan. In pursuing the goals established at the start of the year I have already experienced more change than I expected.

PS Can someone remind me next year that I need to make sleeping one of my goals?