Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Here is one way to begin what is likely to be an unpleasant conversation. It lessens the unpleasantness and moves toward a more productive conversation. Let’s begin with, “John, I am upset.” (Substitute the other person’s name for John. That was the most alias of names I could find.) There, said the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Loving and caring people want to help others. So we put one more thought into the writing and one more statement into the speaking. Delete those. Here are tips on editing writing that don’t need much thought, but hold true about 98.6% of the time: Get the idea? Loving and caring people […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Along with the sage advice, “listen more, talk less,” I add, “nap more, talk less.” “People who nap in the day are lazy.” My mother told me that countless times. Sometimes I disagree with things my mother told me. Now to the title of the post: before opening mouth, rest. Fatigue always […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Let us mean what we say and say what we mean. Sometimes that requires too much effort. The effort is worth it if we want others to take us seriously. You know what I mean, huh? You get my drift, right? Just go along with me on this one. And then one […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We continue to use too much jargon. Are we illiterate or just too lazy to type words? I am reviewing materials for a certification. Gosh, I am too old for this, but whatever. I won’t mention the name of the certification. I you continue reading this post, you can probably guess which […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A text without a context is a pretext. Know the audience. Sorry, these are old basics but they still apply. “Do you know who I am?” That question is a biting indictment of a person who approaches another in ignorance and starts talking in grand fashion about what might be grand ideas, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The old saying about not having time to do it once still holds. Perhaps we will learn one day. There is an old saying about not having the time to do something right, but always having the time to do it over and over and over and… I’m not sure who said […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Everyone claims agreement. Great. Let’s just test that statement with a blank sheet of paper. The beginning of this post is copied from a post a couple years back. Then we pick up with a different test. “We all agree on what we are to do!” claimed a person full of hope […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Let’s pay attention to some basic math. We don’t like that, but we are adults, so let’s behave accordingly. In some respects, asking, “What is 50% of 50%?” is silly. Ask a mathematician that question. I did recently and the response was a laugh. The answer is 2,500%%. Huh? Everyone knows that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It is often best to leave the conversations of another profession to those other professionals. I am an engineer. There, got that out of the way. And I have a Doctor of Philosophy or PhD in engineering. I have not idea why they call the degree by that name. Oh well, got […]

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