Gentle Reminders
Have you ever forgotten to do something? Have you ever promised to get information to someone or ask someone to do something?
If you’re like me, more often than not something slips through the cracks and gets overlooked.
I really appreciate it when people send me a note or give me a call with a gentle reminder of what I promised to do.
I didn’t intentionally not do it, it just slipped my mind. I got distracted. I let something else take precedence.
It really wasn’t anything personal. I didn’t forget to do it because I don’t like you. I didn’t forget to do it because I want you to fail. I didn’t forget to do it because I want you to be embarrassed.
I just forgot. I’m sorry.
Last week I was helping out at a Toastmasters Speechcraft workshop at USM. Leigh, one of the participants offered three strategies for achieving world peace.
- Forgive yourself when you make a mistake
- Forgive other people when they make a mistake
- Don’t escalate small mistakes into something bigger (i.e. don’t take everything as a personal affront)
I thought Leigh’s suggestions were right on target.
Offering gentle reminders to people when they’ve forgotten something is another way to help us achieve world peace (at least in our own corners of the world).
