How to win friends and influence people, p.1  

Hi all,

My name is CJscott. I wanted to talk to you today about a book I am reading called How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was written in the 1930's by a fellow the name of Dale Carnegie. I have read the first two chapters so far, and I have decided that I am going to share my insights and some quotes from the book. I truly hope that we can get a good discussion going on it. My plan is to read each chapter quick, get a good look at what I intend to learn, then re read it with my note pad handy, then share what I learned here, then move on to the next chapter.

I have already read the first chapter so I am going to start their, and being a lover of all things sweet, the chapter heading really made me smile. "If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive"

From their it goes on to tell some stories of how, being nicer to people gets you better results then being mean to people.

One of my favorite lines was "People rewarded for good behavior learn faster, and retain more then efficiently, then those punished for bad behavior"

It says, that by being polite, and offering sincere appreciation the people in your life, be it work, school, or the home, will listen to you, and comply with your wishes in a more gracious mood. But, do not mistake this with flattery which is dishonest.

Think of the other person, before you lash out at them, look at things from their point of view, try your best to be empathetic. What would you, yourself do if you were in their position. Even if you would never be in their position, how do you think you would handle the situation.

Benjamin Franklin once said his secret to dealing with people was that "I will speak ill of no man, and speak all the good I know of everybody"

It seems that former US President, best known as Honest Abe, learned the hard way, to be polite to others. Got challenged to a duel over article he submitted to a paper criticizing a lawyer...I also learned that he died April 15, 1865, across the street from Ford Theater, I am sure this is not news to our American Mylotters, but it was news to me.

And it ends quite on topic, of not judging another person, with a quote by Dr.Johnson "God himself sir, does not propose to judge a man until the end of his days" Why should you and I. And a simple, thought not easy principle to adopt, should you wish to gain more influence over people

Don't criticize, condemn, or complain

A great poem that was shared was Father Forgets by W. Livingston Larned. I would recommend checking out the poem. It was quite touching.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks for your time I appreciate you.
CJscott.