A Verbal Weakling No More!

Remember the cartoon where the big buffed-up bully kicks sand in the face of the 90-pound weakling? Then the little guy works out and pumps up. Now he’s the one who kicks the sand kicker’s behind as he’s bigger and nger after a regimen of weight training and diet.
You are in the same position as the little guy. You are going to be trained and fed with the proper verbal utrients—the right words to say to any adversary in any circumstance. This in turn will allow you to pump yurself up and kick some verbal butt!

Entering the Verbal Combat Zone.

You need to be prepared for everything and anything as you learn the art of verbal self-defense. You might not be looking for a fight, an argument, or any problems. For example, you go out to walk your dog, and a perfect stranger walks by and tells you a dead dog story—something you don’t want to hear, especially at 7 A.M. Then you go to the corner to buy a newspaper. As you put out your hand to pay the vendor, someone in line curses you because she says she was there first, even though you know that you were there before she was. Next, you unsuspectingly go to get a cup of cappuccino at an upscale coffee shop on the corner. You are met by a nasty, abrupt, impatient server who looks at you in disgust when you hand him a ten dollar bill and he is forced to make change for you. As you sit down, you see someone sitting alone at the next table. You smile and say good morning, she looks away as though you were invisible.
Your day is filled with meetings, but before it begins your boss is barking out commands devoid of “please” or “thank you,” or, for that matter, any terms of politeness. He shouts only about the few things you did wrong, ignoring the fact that you did everything else right. In fact, you have done things so right that you are still the number one salesperson in the company over the past six months.
As if your day couldn’t get any worse, you finally get to go home and relax, only to discover that you are getting the silent treatment from your spouse for something you must have done. No kiss, no hug, nothing.
Perplexed, you ask “what’s wrong,” only to hear “nothing’s wrong!”
Could things possibly get any worse?
Guess what? You have just entered the verbal combat zone! But there is good news—you need not be a victim anymore! Help has finally arrived! The pages to come will show you how to effectively strategize to defend yourself against these foes. You will never be a verbal victim again.

Never Say You’ll Call If You Don’t Mean It!

I can’t begin to tell you the number of people whom I have seen with broken hearts, people who have literally waited by the phone for that expected call and never received it. Even if they had a phone answering machine, they sacrificed going out somewhere to personally pick up the phone to hear the promiser’s call. So if you don’t intend to call, don’t say you will! If you think that by saying it you’re being polite, you are not! In reality, you are being extremely rude and potentially hurtful! You have even elicited negative feelings in the person whom you promised to call.
In the same vein, don’t say “let’s get together” or agree to get together if you don’t intend to do it. It is usually taken seriously and can elicit negative feelings about you from the people you misled.