A fairer judge

No one should be judge in his own case. Publilius Syrus 1st century B.C. When we see the words ‘judge’ and ‘case’ in the same sentence, our thoughts naturally turn to the legal system. In that context, it seems obvious that you shouldn’t be the judge for your own case. We all have a natural bias that would prevent us from being totally objective. But if you stop and think about the words of Syrus, you’ll see that they apply far beyond the legal system. We’re often judge in our own case. And most of the time, because of our …
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Setting expectations

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectation. Leo Buscaglia 1924 – 1998 Recently, I went to my doctor for a routine physical. Part of the exam involved giving a blood sample for testing. As the nurse prepared to stick me with the needle, she said, “This is going to hurt a bit. Okay?” I wondered to myself if she understood the purpose of her comment. So I asked if she knew why she informed patients what to expect. As it turns out, she’d never given it much thought; it was simply what she was taught to …
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Have it your way

The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. Victor E. Frankl 1905 – 1997 Henry Ford was famous for saying that his customers could buy his cars in any color they wanted, so long as they wanted black. That lack of choice would mean certain death for most products today. We’ve grown accustomed to customization, to having products and services that match our specifications. We want our Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with the trimmings we choose, washed down with not just a Coke, but a Cherry Diet Coke, a Vanilla Coke Zero, or one …
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