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Subject:RE: what's a cliche, anyway? do I like this guy? From:"Nuckols, Kenneth M" <Kenneth -dot- Nuckols -at- mybrighthouse -dot- com> To:"Peter Sturgeon" <prsturgeon -at- yahoo -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 1 Mar 2006 15:27:54 -0500
Peter Sturgeon asked...
>
> --- Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps I'm being a bit cynical here, but I've found that something
> is a cliché if you don't like the writer or what they're writing about.
>
> True--we'll go out of our way to apologize for a friend's slips, and
> pounce on the most innocent mis-speak of an enemy.
>
> So if we're already pre-disposed to disliking a boss, colleague,
> whoever, we're always hunting evidence to support that dislike, and
> ignoring evidence that would undermine our negative opinion.
>
> So how do we guard against this, as professionals and as people?
>
Just try to keep in mind that none of us are perfect. I don't mean to say that any person should have an unhealthy negative self-image, but I do mean to say that we all (myself included) sometimes need to take our own ego, put it in concrete galoshes, hang a millstone around its neck, drape it in logging chains, and dump it over the side of the boat. Make one goal of every day that you learn something from everyone you encounter that day, and try to keep a humble attitude.
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