Doug and I got on the elevator in our building yesterday with a few of others. One, was a friend who was carrying a big box of dog food, and the other was a father and his little daughter, and she must have been about three and a half years old. The father politely stopped us from pressing our own floor so that his daughter could do it—you remember when you loved pressing the elevator buttons, right? It was adorable.

We all talked on the way up about how well she was managing the elevator and our respective floors (she pointed to each of us and said, “They get off first, then us, then him.”) As we arrived at our floor, I had noticed a brace on her lower arm that looked like she had an injury, so I said, as I exited the elevator, “I hope your arm gets better.” As I started down the hall I heard her sweet little voice yelling to me, “It’s NOT my arm!” Doug and I died laughing! My guess is that it was her wrist and not her arm and she wanted that to be perfectly clear!

This adorable little munchkin reminded me that we get it wrong all the time. We make so many assumptions during the course of any day, at work and at home, and we are undoubtedly wrong. We are wrong because we DON’T know what is going on inside someone else’s head, body, and life. Here are some quick ways to avoid assumptions: ask don’t assume, respond don’t react, look for positive intentions, and instead of expectations, look for shared understanding. Look, I got corrected by a sweet little 3-year old because she was honest enough to let me know the truth—older people won’t be so kind.

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
BETH