How can I change annoying people?
I get a ton of questions about other people—the horrible boss, the nonproductive child, the annoying co-worker. People want to know what they can do to change these people.
My answer is absolutely nothing. You can only control one person in this universe and that person is you. Don’t believe me? Watch A & E’s series Intervention and see how little control people have other others. Often by trying to be supporting and loving, these poor families are enabling the very behavior that is tearing them apart. I think each of us needs to assume the other person is not going to change. I know people who have been complaining about their supervisor for ten years!! Are they thinking they’re going to go to work one day and their boss is going to be different? Hello! You can’t change the other person—you can only decide what you are willing to put up with. You can either make peace with things the way they are, you can get out, or you can continue to be miserable. Those are your choices.
