A rainy day last week prompted this question:  I was walking downtown in the rain today.  As I approached others, I didn’t exactly know what to do to keep from bumping into them with my umbrella?  Do you have any tips? – Cathy

Great question!  In this situation, the tallest person takes the lead:

- If you are sharing an umbrella, the tallest holds it.

- If you are approaching someone, the taller person should lift his or her umbrella as they pass others to avoid a collision.

And as you approach your destination, don’t forget to give your umbrella a good “shake” outside to get as much of the water off as possible before entering the building.

It’s that time of year … graduation.  In the next few months, many graduates will be receiving gifts that will help to prepare them for the next step in their lives.  Part of that next step is taking the responsibility to thank someone appropriately for a gift.

Unfortunately, many high school graduates think a hand written thank-you note is outdated and old fashioned and that a ‘thank you text’ should work just fine.  If you need a little help to motivate your graduate in understanding the power of a well-written and timely thank-you note, local realtor, Wyatt Poindexter, has a remarkable example about the power of the pen:

While working at a Country Club in West Palm Beach, Poindexter’s college roommate, Bryan, met Donald Trump during a rained-out golf event.  The two gentlemen engaged in polite conversation and shared a firm handshake.  The following day, Bryan wrote a simple note to Mr. Trump.  The note expressed gratitude and appreciation to Trump for his “politeness” during their time together.  Not long after, Bryan received a call from the Trump organization, offering him a job as House Manager at the Trump’s West Palm Beach mansion.

Of course not all thank you notes are met with a job offer such as this; but they are met with a smile, sincere appreciation, and a reminder of how a simple gesture of “thanks” can brighten a day.

On a side note: If you know of a graduate who may need help keeping tabs on their gifts and thank-you notes, please share the “Thank you note and Event Manager App” with them.  Click on the iPhone image below for details.

We had a great response to our post last week about going heavy on the carbs when offering up a serving of “Constructive Criticism”.  We thought this week; it would be good to talk about how we respond to the advice.

First of all, we need to determine if the criticism being offered is “constructive” and is in our best interest, helping us to grow; or if it’s just “criticism” that someone is hurling our way because they’re having a bad day.  If you can easily identify it as the latter, let it roll and move on, knowing that it really wasn’t directed at you.  We’ve all heard of the finger pointing, where one finger is pointing at someone else, but the other four fingers are pointing back to the owner of the hand?

If it is truly “constructive”, then we might need to take a deep breath and step back.

I think for most of us (me included) our immediate response is one of defense.  If we start by stepping back, it helps to lower our defense and open ourselves to the possibility of growth, doing better, and overall improvement.  If the constructive criticism is offered via email, it’s easy to step back and come back to the email after we’ve had time to think through the comments instead of shooting back a response that we will forever be regretting.  If the constructive criticism is offered verbally, we can still “step back”, by offering a “thank you” first; knowing that for the most part, it takes someone who thinks highly enough of us to muster up the courage to offer the advice, and we can remind ourselves this is as an opportunity to grow.

If we also remind ourselves, that Constructive Criticism has an opportunity to open our eyes to something new; the next time someone “challenges” us with this process, we can dig deep and think through the topic, which will inevitably add value by making us (or the situation) better, and helping us to again be “thankful” for the comments.

What are your tricks for accepting Constructive Criticism?  We would love to know! Please share your comments below…