An Easy 3-Step-Formula to Be More Assertive
Without being an inconsiderate jerk.
“To be passive is to let others decide for you. To be aggressive is to decide for others. To be assertive is to decide for yourself.”
― Edith Eva Eger
Assertiveness is a keystone to getting what you want from life.
It’s the ability to communicate in a neither passive nor aggressive, but self-assured way. In simple words: the ability to stand up for yourself and your own interests without sounding like a jerk.
However, being assertive is often denounced or frowned upon. Not because it’s something bad per se, but because people struggle with expressing and communicating their needs in an appropriate way.
The last thing you want to do is to come off as aggressive, inconsiderate, selfish, or demanding when you all you tried to say was that you need to finish your own project before you can give someone else a hand.
As so often, this is not an issue of intention, but of communication. As the saying goes
It’s not what you say, but how you say it.
