What we don’t talk out, we act out. It never ends well. To get out of this trap, try drafting a more complete consequence list....What do I mean by that? When faced with a difficult conversation, our head quickly volunteers to do the hard work of calculating the potential outcomes for speaking up and quickly saves itself from any additional hard work by quickly convincing you that a conversation won’t be worth it. We tend to focus on the short-term, negative consequences - like straining your relationship - and look past the long-term, positive consequences of actually sharing our concerns - like helping (someone) avoid a terminal illness (by quitting smoking. - Relieve your brain of this responsibility by capturing all of the consequences on paper. When you’re able to consider a more complete and accurate list, you can make a more informed decision about how to proceed.

Steve Willis