People lacking in confidence are often tempted to duck and weave when others try
to talk them round to their point of view.
■Paul loves expressing an opinion but feels anxious if anyone disagrees with him,
so he hedges his bets as much as possible by making sure his ideas will be
acceptable to the person to whom he’s talking at any time.
■Bert was once sold a set of encyclopaedias at the door because he didn’t want
to upset the salesman.
■Jennifer has a wardrobe full of clothes she has never worn because she is too
timid to resist the attentions of persuasive shop assistants.
■John, aged 49, spends Sunday afternoons at his mother’s, despite his children’s
protestations, because she expects it and he is too timid to tell her that some
weeks he would rather make other arrangements.
And you? Do you find it hard to say no? Do you skirt round the issue rather than
facing up to things?
46 SAY NO WHEN YOU MEAN NO
The important thing is not what they think
of me; it is what I think of them.
Queen Victoria
“
”
