How to deal with the difficult people in your life

We all have difficult people in our lives. Maybe the difficult people in your life are family members. Maybe they’re co-workers or fellow volunteers, and maybe you or your wife gave birth to one or more of the difficult people in your life. Wherever you find them, the difficult people may not be trying to be difficult. In fact, they may think you’re the difficult one, but there are ways to make the difficult people easier to understand in every situation.

Are they driven or difficult?

Some people know exactly where they’re going. They are focused and driven and incredibly productive. When they’re in balance, they are goal achieving machines. When they’re out of balance, they either blame everyone around them for their failure or steam roll them to get their way. When you learn to appreciate their direct approach, you understand they aren’t mean, they are focused and determined, and they may be fun when the work is done.

Sometimes fun and sometimes flighty

Is someone in your life really fun to be around? They make every job and every day more fun. You love hanging out with them but working with them daily is a different story. Deadlines are not their strong suit. If they like their work and work with others, they’re unstoppable. Leave them alone with a job they hate, and it doesn’t get done. As a friend and co-worker, you love them and want to shake them because your see their potential if they just get organized and stay focused. With your encouragement, maybe they will. With your criticism and judging, it won’t happen.

So sweet unless they’re not

Some people love to help others. They are supportive and go above and beyond until you cross them. Then their stubborn side shows. They become passive-aggressive, and you wonder what happened to the sweet person they used to be. That once supportive person shifts their support to someone else, and you are out in the cold. While some hold a grudge, others are forgiving and welcome you back with a sincere apology.

Cautious and sometimes unyielding

Everyone knows people like this. If you ask them if they would rather be happy or right, they choose right. In fact, they think they’re always right, and annoyingly, they usually are. These are the friends that keep you out of trouble because they follow the rules to the letter unless they disagree with the rules. They they’ll fight you seemingly to the death to change the rules. these people love the details and in balance, they make everything extra special. When they are unbalanced, they suffer from paralysis of analysis and nothing gets done.

Changing your view of the difficult people in your life

In general, most of the difficult people in your life, don’t try to be that way. Some feel like they do because they aren’t afraid of conflict. The interesting things is that they don’t necessarily want conflict. They want resolution and will confront people to get it. They will address the elephant in the room. Others prefer a back door approach of quiet conversation, checking the facts and making sure the ducks are lined up perfectly. Others just want everyone to get along. Do you see how this can cause chaos? The good news is that it can also create harmony when we understand one another. In business and in life, there are ways to make the most of each of these personality types, and there’s no time like right now to get started. You can get access to 21 experts in the book DISCover Your Team’s Potential, and by signing up below, you also get your free copy of DISCover the personalities in your company plus so much more. Sign up and get started now.