Have you ever thought, “Man, no one today uses common sense anymore”? You hear about people on the news, at work or someone even does something to you that you just find so unbelievable!

I want to share a story with you today and it all starts with a book. It was the first book I ever actually read and even today I still refer back to it! It’s called How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It was written back in the 1930s and it’s still read all over the world, as one of greatest books on building relationships.

There is one story about a wealthy man who owns a plane. His mechanic makes a mistake while working on it and the wealthy man almost dies! He could’ve rushed back into the hangar screaming, “Do you know you almost cost me my life?!” and fired him. And no one would be surprised or blame him for doing that, right?

The mechanic knew he made a mistake! He saw what happened. If you were that mechanic, what would be going through your head? Something like, “OH MY GOSH, how could I mess that up? That guy almost died!” And whether you made the mistake because you forgot, you were distracted or any other reason – I bet you would never make that same mistake ever again.

So, what happens in the story? Well, the wealthy man walks into the hangar and says calmly, “I am so confident you just learned a very valuable lesson. So much so, that I want you to continue working on my plane.” Wait, what?

You see, common sense will tell you that you are not perfect. And you know it. It also tells you that no one else is perfect, either! Every person faces big-time learning opportunities, and they aren’t always life-and-death like in the book, but sometimes you treat other people like it is. “How could you make that mistake? Why don’t you use some common sense?”

A few years ago, a woman came to one of our live events. She was very well-educated, studied at Cambridge, knew tons of celebrities, used to write for the White House.  Just a brilliant, well-read woman.

I was curious when she agreed to come to a live event because I wasn’t sure how she would receive it, being so brilliant and successful already. What could I teach her? After the first morning session she approached me and just said, “WOW, Dani! That blew me away. I learned SO MUCH.” Me, I was shocked.

But as we continued talking she said, “You know everybody needs an editor, everyone needs correction. And what you spoke about this morning, well I really needed to hear and learn.”

The thing is, good sense knows YOU DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING! Good sense understands not everyone else knows it all, either.  So often you expect other people to be perfect and that is where a lot of us get tripped up in relationships. You expect them to never mess up or to always know it everything.

As a society, everyone needs to learn to start letting people off the hook a little more. Because I promise, when you show grace or choose to overlook other’s mistakes, they will be more willing to forgive your mistakes. THAT is good, common sense.

If you are willing to overlook other people’s mistake, that sets you up for promotion. If you are willing to set aside your ego and admit you also make mistakes and have opportunities to learn new things, that also sets you up for a big promotion. Not just in your career but in your life and relationships! Your income is directly linked to your people skills!

Are you ready to start letting others off the hook? Hit me up on social media and remember to Like and Share today’s message with your friends, family and coworkers!

In great faith,

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