Don't listen to them! There's nothing wrong with you.

As I've explained many times before, I got in trouble a lot in school for talking too much, being hyperactive, making jokes and failing to do what I was told to do.

In 8th grade, I was in a very small art class. There were only four or five students. Most of our class time was spent drawing or painting, while the teacher sat at her desk. There wasn't a lot of lecture in art class.

I took it upon myself to fill the silence. I offered a running commentary about my artwork, told funny stories and made jokes. Unfortunately, the teacher did not think I was funny. She did not like me at all. I may, in fact, have been the most irritating person she had ever met.

At one point, she petitioned the principal to have me spanked. My parents had to approve the request as well and they were glad to do so. But the beating didn't work and our problems continued.

One day she sent me out of class and told me to stand in the hallway for the rest of the period. As I walked out she said, "I think we are all tired of listening to you."

The rest of the students in the class quickly talked amongst themselves and decided that they weren't tired of listening to me. I was very entertaining. They loved it. The prospect of an entire class period without me was not appealing.

They told the teacher that they liked my ramblings and asked her to reconsider her decision to expel me from the classroom.

As you can probably guess, this caused the teacher to like me even less that she already did.

But there's an important lesson here. The same thing that causes some people to like you, will cause other people to dislike you. The same thing that makes some people happy, will make other people unhappy.

This is why we need to flaunt our weaknesses instead of fixing them. When we try to fix our supposed weaknesses, we might make some people happy but, in doing so, we will also jeopardize our relationship with the people who already liked us just the way we were.

The next time someone tells you that everyone is "tired of listening to you," ask yourself if that is true. Maybe a lot of people love listening to you. Maybe you should talk more instead of less.

Comments

[Jay Platt]

Very good article. I'm new to your blog and this is the first post I've read, but wow. What you've
said here really hit me between the eyes. I must admit that I've been guilty of what you've said in the past. But, you're exactly right. You will never please everyone. Thanks for sharing.

[Kristina]

Have you ever come a across a weakness (in yourself or others) that could not be turned into a positive at work?

[Janet]

Very true! And the art class story had me laughing out loud.