“Have you ever noticed, when you’re driving, that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?”
– George Carlin, philosopher (he was also very funny)
A few weeks ago, I got a call from a loved one in the midst of a wee bit of relationship discord centering around a classic: housekeeping.
My advice to him? Do his best and expect that even if he and his wife are together until he’s 102, there will always be a little housework friction. He’s a person comfortable with some dishes in the sink and some lint on the carpet; she’s a person who will get out of bed at midnight to vacuum for the relief of waking up to clean shag.
People who are tidier than us are uptight. People are less tidy than us are slobs. Our own level of cleanliness tends to be the right one.
People who go to the doctor more frequently than us are paranoid; people who go less often than us are reckless.
People who spend more lavishly than us are ostentatious; people who are more thrifty are tight.
Idiots and maniacs everywhere… because our own orientation to the world is the only one that feels obvious to us.
Coaching works best at the intersection of how we are all basically alike – we do all see idiots and maniacs everywhere, rarely if ever counting ourselves among them – and how we are each unique individuals, such as who we categorize as idiots and who as maniacs. If you’re ready to find your bigger and badder from your intersection, let’s talk.