Ten tips on coping with difficult people By Paul Mitchell

1. Be aware of your buttons being pressed.
   

2. Refuse to automatically respond.
   

3. Deliberately and consciously slow the pace of a conversation/argument.
   

4. Deliberately and consciously lower the volume at which you are discussing the point of difference.
   

5. Try to be aware of what makes them seem difficult to you (have you met someone similar before - even perhaps a member of your own family!)
   

6. Try to be aware of what might make you difficult in their eyes - what threatens them about you?
   

7. Be open - they may have something constructive to say which you cannot see about yourself.
   

8. Be honest - prepared to agree with what is valid for you and to acknowledge when you see matters differently.
   

9. Be careful - not to say or do anything which will wound the other person or wound you if it rebounds.
   

10. Keep breathing.
    

Further information

Newsletters on personality types.

Links page for information on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

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