Foster care
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There’s a saying in the foster care world that changed how I see people: “All behavior makes sense with enough information.” When a child lashes out, hides, or shuts down, you start to see it’s not defiance. A quiet way of saying, I’ve been hurt before. And adults aren’t so different. The colleague who always needs to be right, maybe control is how they stay safe. The partner who pulls away maybe, love once came with conditions. The boss who’s never satisfied, maybe approval was the only way they got attention growing up. Even the rude prospect who hangs up on your cold call, maybe they were burned by a pushy salesperson before. We’re all carrying invisible histories that explain us. You don’t have to excuse behavior to understand it. You just have to remember there’s always a story underneath. Once you see that, judgment softens. You stop asking, “What’s wrong with them?”and start wondering, “What happened to them?” And when you see clearly, All behavior makes sense with enough information. |
Josh Braun
My friend Marty has been retired for forty-six years. He lives simply.A small home.A ten-year-old car.Four months of fly fishing every year.He doesn’t chase more.He doesn’t need to.He’s content with mornings by the river. Grateful for what he has. When I joined him once, we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the water. It tasted better than any five-star meal I’ve ever had. I also know people worth a hundred million dollars who still feel restless. Most are anxious.Always measuring...
A few years back I crashed my bike. Broke my collarbone. A rib. My shoulder. Lip split open. Rehab took more than a year. But when I came out the other side, I had something valuable . . . . evidence. Evidence that I’d gotten through something tough. You’ve probably got your own evidence too. Moments where life knocked you down and you got back up. That evidence matters. Because the next time life throws you a curveball, you don’t just have hope, you have proof. Proof that you’ve done hard...
I’ve learned to be a slippery salesperson. When you’ve been in sales long enough, you experience it all: Territory changes.Quotas rising.Missing numbers you thought you’d crush.Deals you were certain would close slipping away.Prospects ghosting without a word. At first, it stings. You take every high and low personally. You grip too tight. But over time, you realize the ups and downs aren’t the exception. They’re the nature of sales. So you learn to be slippery. To let things slide off...