Samantha Joyce Boneck

Book: How to Win friends & influence people by Dale Carnegie

When originally reading this book, I found it to be inspiring. He mostly speaks in term of “what can YOU do to get this person to LIKE you” or “what can I do for YOU” types of formats. The author presents a way to think about the person you wish to influence, why they should listen to YOU, and techniques to apply.

I never personally tried the methods he mentions but find his concepts to be very interesting and I do wonder if they actually work. Do they work for only some? And, are people actually that insecure and ignorant that they are going to believe you? Perhaps! But, this book was first published in 1937. I think many things have changed since the Jazz Age and should be considered when reading this book. I can’t really judge it too hard because I haven’t tried the methods but what worked in the past may not work right now.

Today, everyone is so digital and it’s extremely difficult to connect or even get someone’s attention because they are so focused on their cellphones. How do you get across to someone who is obsessed with the cellphone? Everyone seems to be in such a rush and has no time for anyone else these days. Which brings me to wonder, what was done during a time when conversation was meaningful and genuine has now changed.

What do we talk about these days? In my experience, and I know I am guilty of this myself but we tend to talk about “ourselves” and how our day has been or how we’re feeling. And, when the conversation switches to the other individual – time and again I’ve seen their eyes glaze over and they go into daydream mode because they don’t actually have interest in the conversation or simply want to talk about themselves or are more interested in getting back to their phones for that text message or email or phone call. Have we become so narcissistic that we only care about ourselves? And, if so, perhaps I’m wrong and Carnegie’s methods will work 100%.

What’s your opinion?

 

The gift of patience! Have you ever lost your temper and yelled at someone at work or perhaps at a friend or loved one? Or, maybe you’re waiting in line and need to get out ASAP but the person in front of you is taking forever? Or, another example – you’re driving and don’t understand why nobody is moving so you honk your horn.

What does patience teach us? On a personal level, I’ve always been the type of person to hold my tongue and have found both positive and negative events have occurred because of being patient. On the positive side, one example I will use is when I was waiting in line at Qdoba. There was a line of about 15 people this particular day and I was trying to catch a bus so I was hoping to grab some food and get out ASAP. It didn’t really happen that way and I did end up missing my bus. The good news turned out to be I received a free meal due to the long line that day and the cashier was being especially nice. Even better news was on this cold, winter day even though I missed the bus another came around out of the blue which ultimately made my day because of the weather. So, two great things happened this day due to my being patient and not complaining. Keeping a positive frame of mind and not focusing on missing the bus or having to wait for the individuals ahead of me resulted in a free treat and not missing my transportation. The point I’m trying to make is how often do we jump to the negative? Or, assume things that result in hurting ourselves or others? When we could have just taken a breath and attracted the positive into our lives.

Now for the negative. Waiting for coffee in the morning can be stressful. On a typical day at 6:45am at Starbucks, there’s a line of about 10 people, give or take. I enjoy having a vanilla latte before work on special occasions when I’m feeling especially sleepy. One day, on a trip to Starbucks I’m standing in a long line waiting for my turn and when I get to the front I place my order and wait for my drink. Unfortunately, the lady who took my order didn’t push my car far enough for the barista to see so I had to wait longer than usual to get my coffee. And as I watch other people who got to Starbucks after me – I stand there wondering, what’s going on – I was here “first”. Being your typical impatient person, I go to the front and ask the barista when my drink will be made and she replies, “you’re up next, just a couple more minutes”. Filled with frustration and stress about being late to work, I begin to think of all the things that are about to go wrong and everything that could have gone wrong that morning did. The barista made my coffee wrong, I was late to work, and worst of all I carried that bad attitude with me for the rest of the day.

The moral of my story, when comparing the two scenarios is that when I wasn’t internally stressing out/being impatient on not having something done my way, I didn’t lose anything but gained everything that I wanted. Whereas, when I was being extremely impatient, the very thing I did not want-happened! How often is it that we just take a minute and breathe and say to ourselves, “everything is going to be okay and work out” and don’t focus on all those negative possibilities.

 

 

Ever wonder what makes up a product? What exactly does a company do when developing a product line? Or, how they go about getting results? For example, the testing that’s involved, the measurements, and the metrics?

On a typical day at my job, I get to focus on these very tasks. I conduct two tests for our mini rollers and regular sized rollers: The Efficiency test will tell you how much paint a roller can hold and a Lint test shows how much lint will inevitably appear on your wall. The reason we do this is to make sure the company stays competitive with our competitors.

The interesting thing that a consumer may or may not have noticed is the amount of lint that gets stuck to your wall while painting. Ideally, you want a wall that shows limited to no lint because you want a wall that’s aesthetically pleasing, right? And this is where your quality levels may differ. The example I’m going to use is the levels I personally get to work with: Economy, Good, Better, Best and Premium.

Starting with an “Economy” roller. This is going to be your cheapest option and will also shed the most lint. We’re looking at 220 pieces of lint and potentially higher. However, if it’s made of a knit fabric, it’s going to hold more paint than a roller that is made with a woven fabric or another material.

The “Good” level rollers are around the same as the “Economy” rollers so ultimately, if you had to pick between the two…you’re probably better off going with the cheaper version. It’s not going to make that much of a difference.

The “Better” level rollers are, as the title says, “Better”. You’re going to be looking at a product that sheds around 150 pieces of lint.

The “Best” roller is going to give a very nice finish with around 70 pieces of lint.

The “Premium” Roller is going to be your top rank roller. This is the roller you choose if you don’t want to see lint on your wall and generally if the product says “Lint-Free“, it’s practically going to be that unless you travel with a microscope.

Why does this matter? When it comes to the quality of your roller and what you’re looking for when painting your walls, this guide is going to help you in the decision process. Then, you have the additional choices of different materials such as knit, woven, microfiber and many more options that will be available to you in the marketplace. These choices are going to alter how many times you’re going to be dipping your roller back into the paint tray. Material is very important because certain materials offer different benefits.