- Cool down
- Talk it out
- Write a[n unsent] response
- Do your homework
- Schedule a meeting
- Admit your mistakes
My favorite quotation from the post was attributed to John Eldredge as a paraphrase:
It’s easy to be brave when you are sitting in the safety of your own office. You can hurl digital spears at your adversaries without without the risk of a real, live encounter.
The post goes into a great deal of detail and explains each of the six steps. It was written by Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson Publishers under the title, “Stop: Don’t Send That Angry Email!”
I’d like to think I’ve learned the lesson, but then I think a similar one could be posted as “Stop: Don’t Post That Angry Comment!” The main differences are that comments are public and they usually involve situations you don’t even need to face. We actually surf looking for provocation.
Good advice. There’s been a couple times that I’ve been talked out of writing an email, and I am very thankful I was. While obviously there can be problems in face to face conflict, there seems to be much less opportunity for miscommunication than through email.
What a crock! You are unbelievably stupid, Horne. What kind of idiot blogs about this? Well, obviously dunces like you. I hate your blog. It’s full of lies. Who do you think you are? Why did I ever visit this sorry excuse for an intelligent website? Surely not to read anything remotely useful! Forget you.
Mark, remind me never to offend that Jeff character!
Alas, it is impossible to avoid 🙂