“Sunday Negotiation Insight”
“It’s said that everything that glitters is not gold. Such is also the case with opportunities. When appraising opportunities, always assess the risk. In so doing, you’ll uncover their real value.” –Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert
“Played, In Life & Negotiations”
You’ve been played (i.e. taken advantage of)! How do you feel? Do you feel tricked, downtrodden, betrayed, bamboozled?
People will take advantage of you to improve their plight in life if you allow them to. So, how might you reduce the possibility of them doing so? Observe the following:
1. Be aware of how, when, and where people come into your life. Consider the timing as to what’s occurring with you at that time. If you’re emotionally depressed, you’re more likely to allow someone to get close to you for the emotional comfort they provide at that time. That doesn’t mean you have to grant them rights to ‘camp out’ in your life if they don’t continue to add value.
2. Observe your emotional state when assessing how you feel about someone and assess why you have such emotions. All of us are intuitive and intuitiveness occurs when we recognize at a conscious level what we’re experiencing subliminally. So, don’t discount your intuition. When sensing ‘something’, explore it.
3. Be mindful of who you let into your inner circle. When you allow people to get close to you, realize that they’ll have some form of influence on you. Even if it’s a momentary distraction that they cause, they will have taken a little bit of your time that you can never reclaim. They will also have an impact on your thought process, be it ever so slight. Only let those that can add value to your life inside your circle. That’s not being selfish, that’s exercising self-preservation.
When it comes to being taken advantage of, people will only do to you what you allow them to do. If you choose not to allow someone to take advantage of you (i.e. not place yourself in a position for it to occur), they can’t.
If you raise your level of awareness of people, you’ll have a greater sense of who to let in and who to keep out of your life … and everything will be right with the world.
What does this have to do with negotiations?
Understand the real reason people are negotiating with you. Ask yourself what their real intentions are. Are they trying to get information from you, only to use it as leverage against the real party with whom they’re negotiating? Are they just ‘testing the waters’ and wasting your time, which could be better spent furthering your endeavors. If you sense something’s not right, address it and correct it. Be quick to get out of situations that don’t serve you and you have more time to engage in those that do.
Remember, you’re always negotiating.