Direct Request #2

Remember Smart Goals? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely? You want to be able to OBSERVE your agreed upon request in action. 

Here are some important additional rules:

  • NO EXPLAINING why you are making this direct request. We always assume that everyone in this negotiation is a sane and rational human being, unless, of course, one of you is a cat.

It’s a Request, not a Command. And it always starts with “Could you please…”

Let’s face it: family arguments can spin out of control in a matter of seconds and last for hours. Like a patch of black ice on the freeway and the resulting insurance claim that drags on for months. 

The goal is to keep negotiations short. I’ve seen issues that have been contentious for decades dissolve in a minute or less. 

As in, “could you please put your dirty socks in the laundry basket when you take them off at night?” “Sure.”

This after a decade of dirty socks in the middle of the living room like resentment baiting cockroaches that are driving one of you absolutely batty.

Don’t believe me? Watch this: