Friday Story – Better to Ask than Assume

Mentor Ben Drake 

Here is your Friday story,

Better to Ask than Assume

The late Bill Love used to tell the story of a psychiatrist, engineer, and doctor who got lost in the Canadian woods. Stumbling on a trapper’s cabin but getting no response at the door, they went inside for shelter and waited for his return.

In the corner, on a crude platform at waist-high level, was a wood-burning stove. It quickly became not only the focus of interest for their half-frozen bodies but the center of their conversation as well.

The psychiatrist explained the stove’s unusual position as evidence of psychological problems brought on by isolation. The engineer, on the other hand, saw it as an ingenious form of forced-air heating. The physician surmised the poor fellow had arthritis and found it too painful to bend over to fuel his stove.

When the trapper finally arrived, they could not resist asking about the stove whose warmth had saved them. “Simple,” he said. “My stove pipe was too short.”

I wasn’t along for that hunting trip, but I’ve been where those guys were that day. I’ve tried to read someone’s mind. I’ve seen motives that weren’t there. I’ve walked into situations, caught a snippet of what was happening, and made a fool of myself by some badly chosen response. Or I’ve used a perfectly innocent slip of the tongue as my excuse to take offense. I can be a real jerk at times!

On occasion, the victim has been a stranger. At other times, it was a friend from church or colleague at work. Most often, it has been my wife or child.

Communication is a wonderful thing – when it happens. But there are so many barriers. Each of us brings baggage to every situation. Words can be vague or carry very different nuances for people from different backgrounds. Then there are the prejudices and blind spots all of us have.

Lots of confusion could be eliminated and far more progress made this week by following this simple rule: When something isn’t clear, ask. Don’t assume. Don’t guess. Don’t mind-read. Trying swallowing your pride and saying, “I’m not sure I understand. Do you mind explaining that to me?”

This simple strategy could save you embarrassment, time, and money. More important still, it might save one of your life’s most important relationships.

Rubel Shelly

Rubel Shelly is a Preacher and Professor of Religion and Philosophy located in Rochester Hills, Michigan. In addition to church and academic responsibilities, he has worked actively with such community projects as Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, From Nashville With Love, Metro (Nashville) Public Schools, Faith Family Medical Clinic, and Operation Andrew Ministries. To learn more about Rubel please go to: www.RubelShelly.com
Click here for our printable version

Sent to you as a courtesy of:

Josh Hinds
Inspirational Speaker, Author, and Coach
http://www.JoshHinds.com

From Insight of the Day emails a powerful story on asking rather than assuming.
Learn how to be successful
http://bdrake.successin10steps.com/?mad=52669
be*******@***il.com
http://www.ben-drake.com

Recommended Posts

A crime to stop Thinking for Yourself

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❤️😀 It’s a crime to stop thinking for Yourself. This post is by written by Ben (Benjamin Mathew) Drake of Coach freedom and friends and is Supported and Sponsored by mentor Ben drake with their free ebook success in 10 steps, written by Linda and Michael Dlouhy for the mentoring for free system. Bens customer […]

Mentor Ben Drake 

organised planning and its affects on our lives

Organised planning and its affects on our lives from model railway building to getting married and Health improvement.Bellow is my personal development lesson from think and grow rich chapter 7 on organised planning. The quoted text is from Google Gemini and it’s response to organised planning. For many years I have been watching as a […]

Mentor Ben Drake 

Philosophies of the world

🏋‍♂️😃👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Now that is a very big truth about the two money philosophies of the world. The best part is that it doesn’t need to be all money which You invest in. You can still invest in many different ways, time, leadership, volunteering, hobby, health. The philosophy remains the same for all areas of our […]

Mentor Ben Drake