{"id":696,"date":"2010-02-02T09:12:16","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T14:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/?p=696"},"modified":"2010-02-16T09:20:21","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T14:20:21","slug":"interpersonal-expertise-tip-appreciating-and-utilizing-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/696\/interpersonal-expertise-tip-appreciating-and-utilizing-differences","title":{"rendered":"Interpersonal Expertise Tip: Appreciating (and Utilizing) Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So often, we can make the mistake of wanting everyone in our lives to be exactly like us; this desire can cause consistent problems in our relationships.\u00a0 After all, surrounding ourselves with others who are exactly the same as us is a sure route to boredom and\/or stagnation!\u00a0 Some say that the answer is a more &#8220;tolerant&#8221; attitude toward those with differences, which can imply that we should simply put up with others&#8217; differences so we can all survive together.<\/p>\n<p>It is our position that true appreciation of differences (rather than simple toleration of them) comes from a realization of how useful our collective differences are to our collective ability to not only survive together, but to thrive.\u00a0 This Interpersonal Expertise Tip focuses on identifying how our differences can be turned from annoyances or experiences to be tolerated to opportunities for satisfaction, achievement and\/or growth &#8211; for all people involved.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Genuine appreciation of differences can be cultivated by promoting an awareness about how differences are helpful to us in general.\u00a0 This appreciation can sometimes be deepened further when we become aware of how specific differences in those around us can help all parties to move toward their objectives in life.\u00a0 Here are some ways people have been able to cultivate more genuine appreciation for others&#8217; differences:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reflect on how people with differences have impacted the world in positive ways. <\/strong> A general appreciation of differences can often be helped along via reflections on how different talents, passions and perspectives have been helpful to us in general.\u00a0 For instance, those with a different way of thinking have been critical to our abilities to enjoy light bulbs, democracy and automobiles.\u00a0 They have also been responsible for social, educational and medical improvements across time.\u00a0 We have all been positively impacted by people different from us in a great variety of ways!<\/li>\n<li><strong>When appropriate, identify others who have similar objectives in life (and different passions, perspectives or abilities) and investigate how to use differences to assist each other.<\/strong> Our appreciation for differences can deepen even further when we begin to see how such differences in other people can impact our current aims in life.\u00a0 Some have benefited greatly by identifying common objectives with others, then moving toward those objectives by utilizing differences.\u00a0 For example, there are many people who have a common objective to increase their annual revenue or income.\u00a0 A group of three people with the same objective may have different talents that, when used together, can help all three achieve their common objective (one person may develop a product to sell, another may be good at talking with others about the product and the third may be good at organizing things financially).\u00a0 This can also apply to personal common objectives like &#8220;have more fun,&#8221; &#8220;be healthier,&#8221; and &#8220;keep the house clean.&#8221;\u00a0 If we can find people with common interests and different talents or interests, we can see first-hand the power of appreciating and utilizing our differences.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be aware of the tendency to focus on the negatives related to differences by regularly affirming helpful differences. <\/strong> Some research has indicated that negative experiences may be 5 times as impactful on us.\u00a0 This can mean that if we have 1 positive experience and 1 negative one in a certain hour, that hour can feel as though we actually had 5 negative experiences and only 1 positive one!\u00a0 In order to stay aware of how we have been impacted positively by others&#8217; differences it seems important to make a commitment to fight this tendency by staying aware of how these differences have been helpful to us.\u00a0 Focusing on the suggestions above on a daily or weekly basis has been useful for many attempting to deepen their appreciation of differences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NOTE TO THOSE USING THE MISSION FULFILLMENT SYSTEM:<\/strong> You can move toward more Interpersonal Expertise by adding a new Objective to your system by using the \u201cAdd New Item\u201d link (for example, \u201cDeepen my appreciation for others&#8217; differences\u201d).\u00a0 You can then develop a SMART Goal related to that new Objective by using the \u201cAdd Subitem\u201d link to the far right of the new Objective (for example, \u201cTalk with Jay and Carolyn about how we might use our differences to have more fun and get more things done that we all value.\u201d).<br \/>\n<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT ON THE MISSION FULFILLMENT SYSTEM: <\/strong><a href=\"..\/..\/tracking_execution.php\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to for more  information and <a href=\"..\/..\/contact.php\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to sign  up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL NOTE:<\/strong> If you were linked to this article by a video or email, please return to that link and proceed with any other instructions that you deem helpful.\u00a0\u00a0For more Execution Excellence and Interpersonal Expertise tips and tools visit our site at: <a href=\"..\/..\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.excellenceuniversity.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So often, we can make the mistake of wanting everyone in our lives to be exactly like us; this desire can cause consistent problems in our relationships.\u00a0 After all, surrounding ourselves with others who are exactly the same as us is a sure route to boredom and\/or stagnation!\u00a0 Some say that the answer is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interpersonal-expertise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}