Michael Sorensen

And most of the time, what I hear from people is they write it and they say, well, I just tried it and it worked.

My partner actually said, I don't know what you're doing, but I appreciate it.

I can tell that you're working on it.

Or, gee, that was the best conversation we've ever had and it was over text.

It's just taking that extra moment to pause and

empathize with the other person, I do want to say I'm not suggesting that you have to even agree with them.

You know, that's one other question that I get quite often is people say, well, I don't want to validate somebody if I don't agree with them.

And the amazing thing is you don't have to because you're not saying you're right.

All you're saying is I can see how you feel that way.

And for sake of time, I won't get into the details, but I use this daily at work.

I'm a manager of roughly 30 people.

And I've had many instances where people come to me livid with a decision that I made that they disagree with.

And I listen to them and they explain why.

And I validate from their perspective.

I can appreciate why they're so upset.

Just turns out they didn't have the whole picture.

So after I validated them, after I heard them,

I said, now may I share my side of the story?

And they said, yeah.

And we talked.