We have lots of practice thinking of what we should have said.
We don’t have a lot of practice speaking up in the moment.
And because we don’t have experience, we aren’t good at it, and because we aren’t good at it we resist doing it and just keep doing what we’re good at (which is to speak in hind sight).
The big underlying scary reason for not speaking up is that you’re probably going to have to be bad at speaking up before you’re good at it. And being bad at it could very well be painful for you and the people around you.
But you don’t get better at speaking up by working really hard at knowing what you should have said and then telling yourself you’ll do it next time.
You get better at speaking up by speaking up.
***Speaking up is not synonymous with confrontation.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com