I was at a Dale Carnegie Course graduation this week.
One of the graduates was talking about what he gained from his twelve weeks in the program. His realization – everyone’s got a story.
We often (usually?) make judgements about others based solely upon what we see. It’s like looking through a keyhole in the front door of a mansion and claiming to know where everything – rooms, paintings, tapestries, furniture, silverware, closets, beds, linen, etc. – is inside. We can’t even see the entire front hallway.
Dale Carnegie said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested you.” It’s amazing, when we strive to “Become genuinely interested in other people” (principle #4), they do become genuinely interesting to us.
The hard part is getting past our own initial judgement, so we can at least open the door and see the hallway.