Do you like chocolates? Most people do! What about spinach flavoured ice-cream, socks that have not been washed for a month or a blocked drain flavoured pizza? No! Why? Don’t you think it will taste nice?
Well, you may not know it, but you too have a flavour. Your attitude and how it makes you treat, speak and handle people leaves them with a “mental taste” of what is inside you. And don’t let that cute face you look at in the mirror every morning fool you. The container may look adorable, but the content may “stink.”
You see, your flavour, or reputation, is not determined by the nice clothes you wear, how clever you sound, playing for the first team or how many “follower” you have on social media. No, how you treat other people and how it makes them feel determines your “flavour.”
Does this mean you must now begin to please everybody or stop being yourself? No! It simply means learn to look at what you say and do through the eyes of other people. For example, will they think what you’re saying is cute, funny, interesting and meaningful or weird, rude, stupid and lame?
So, in future, before you say or do anything, imagine what flavour it will leave in the hears and minds of others.
Here are some tips on how to improve your flavour:
- Be respectful, at all times.
- Think before you speak so you can say what you mean and means what you say.
- Don’t interrupt and give people enough time to speak.
- Keep in mind that people may not always be in the mood to hear what you want to say / do.
- Learn to listen, which involves knowing when to speak and when to keep quiet.
- Think how what you say / do can make others feel.
- Keep it clean and stick with respectful jokes (because you never know who’s listening or recording what you’re doing).
- Stay clear of things that can offend people or insult their religious, political or cultural views.
- Dump the swearing.
- Check your facts.
- Don’t think that if it is funny to you, it will be to others.
- Don’t gossip, make up stuff or spread “hear say” stories.
- Keep it real because people don’t like a fake.
- Don’t “make” or force people to do things.
- Sex jokes are for people who can’t tell real jokes.
- Know when to stop.
- Never say things behind people’s back you would not say to their face.
- Control your emotions and anger.
- Never become personal.
Some tips that can help to determine if you can / should say or do something:
- What would your grandma feel or think about you if you said this to her?
- If you had to explain in “court” why you said / did something, how will you defend what you said / did?
- When in doubt, don’t say / do it?
- Stay clear of stuff that can hurt people’s feeling and / or disrespect their faith / religion, culture, gender or race.
- Think how you will feel if someone else did to you what you are about to do to them.
- Would your parents be happy with what you said / did?
Remember, it’s not what people do when you’re in their presence that matters, it’s what they say, feel and think about you once you’ve left that matter – and what you say and do determines that.
