Contact Author:
Dr Larry C. Bobbert

The world is filled with all kinds of people and some create “close encounters” of the worst kind.
   This article is based on a web course title “Coping and Communi­cating with Difficult People” 
  Like it or not most of us face difficult people every day.  In this brief space we will explore the following realities.
 1.       When we can communicate or effectively cope with people, we become more content with ourselves which helps us enjoy life more and get more accomplished.
 2.       When we know more about ourselves than others know about us, we can better handle ourselves in difficult situations.
 3.       When we know more about others than they know about themselves, we can control a situation.

  Bottom Line—When you understand how to handle, communicate or cope with difficult people, you can get more done and feel better about doing it.

So where to start?  First stop and think of a person whom you believe is difficult.  What makes them “difficult” for you?
 Stop reading, Think about one difficult individual.  It would help if you wrote down a description of the person—maybe even give them a secrete nickname like “Mr. Steam Roller” or “Ms. Know-it-all.”
  To accomplish all this we need to provide many types of people an atmosphere in which they can get what they want or need.
   When dealing with people nothing is simple because there are so many types, so we will discuss some generic techniques that work with most people—nobody is liked by or works with everyone easily.  That’s why we have political parties, marriages and divorces, friends and enemies, treaties and wars.
  Nervousness and Fear
Now you have a description of the person with whom you would like to work more effectively.  Which is a nice way of saying, “get along with the lunkhead that irritates you.”    

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