You deal with difficult people in many settings, many times. Sometimes there is a personality clash and other times the other person may do or say things that really annoy you.

When two people don’t get along, each usually blames the other for the problem. If you are experiencing self-justifying thoughts, don’t you suppose the other person is also? Generally if you have to self-justify your own behavior you intuitively know that your behavior isn’t the best.

You cannot change other people. You can change you. You have a direct line to your own thoughts, body and language. If you make changes in the way you approach a difficult person, it is very likely that the other person will respond to your changes by changing their own behavior.

You may still feel that there are some people you deal with are truly difficult and that nothing you do will change them. You are right and wrong. You, being the stronger person must be the one to start changing how you deal with the difficult people in your life.

You must be part of the solution and not part of the problem. People respond positively to kind, genuine and polite behavior.

Tips to be the stronger person:

· Smile and maintain a pleasant look on your face.

· Focus on things you like about the person and work that into the conversation so that the person feels more self-confident.

· Maintain a good working relationship give it the extra effort.

· Examine your own behavior and make sure you are not creating the negative outcomes.

· Be considerate of the other person.

· Be polite.

· Don’t allow yourself to get drawn into an argument.

· Keep your personal life as well as theirs out of the conversation.

· If at all possible give genuine complements.

· Let the other person know that you appreciate their contribution to the effort.

· Remember every person is worthy of basic respect.

· Use different types of conversation style until you find the one that works

· Everyday each of us does something that someone finds difficult.

· Treat the other person the way you want to be treated.

Stop placing responsibility for the difficult relationship with the other person and accept personal responsibility for your own behavior. Once you have done this you have indeed made yourself the stronger person. It does not matter if anyone else recognizes the changes, all that is important is that you know that you have started the work of improving the relationship.