Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlier in your career?

Re:Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlie... by isoprophlex on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @01:44AM (#20504684)

Don't you envy people that never overthink things? People that enjoy the sensory experience of slobbering on a glass of wine? Playing sports for the sake of it?

Try empathy. These are humans too. They have their reasons for living their 'distasteful' lives.

I think it's you who's only got one note on their tune, not everyone around you.

If, in traffic, everybody is honking at you, do you think all of them are bad drivers, or could it be you?

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Re:Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlie... by username90 on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @02:32AM (#20504868)

> Try empathy.

Empathy sucks, I am pretty sure I would be a lot nicer and outgoing if I were less empathetic. You see people struggle with things all the time but you can't do anything about it. All empathy leads to in those situations is suffering because you feel their emotions.

In my opinion people who are outgoing and friendly often have low empathy, they ignore basically everything and just put on their default happy face. It can feel nice, but then you realize that they are super shallow so nothing they say really matters.

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Re:Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlie... by pimmen on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @08:55AM (#20506313)

Being very empathetic doesn’t mean that you have to be overly sympathetic. You can understand without feeling someone else’s emotions.

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Re:Ask HN: What people skills do you wish you learned earlie... by InvaderFizz on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @10:52AM (#20507176)

I'm not religious, but I find the following an incredibly useful quote that becomes easier to accept with age:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference."

[ Parent | on HN ]