These psychological tricks won’t work for me

I recently came across this interesting thread on Reddit asking “What is the most effective psychological trick you use?” It has some curious replies which are well summarized by BuzzFeed¹ – they were blown away by these. For me though, they just won’t work.

1. “To avoid workplace drama and be liked, compliment people behind their back” – Nope, don’t do that. Just never do anything to people behind their backs. A compliment not given to a person’s face is a compliment not given at all.
2. “Saying ‘You’re right!’ instead of ‘I know’” – Don’t be afraid to say “I know” when you actually know. Passivity in communication doesn’t have any place at a workplace. Your words don’t make you an asshole.
3. “On an airplane, if my seatmate is hogging the armrest or being too chatty, I grab the barf bag.” – Don’t be an asshole to your fellow passengers on an airplane. And let’s stop calling it an airplane – we ain’t saving many characters.
4. “Instead of asking, ‘Do you have any questions?’ I ask, ‘What questions do you have?’” – doesn’t freaking matter which order you place those words. People don’t have questions if your presentation doesn’t warranty any. You either killed it or you sucked.
5. “Put headphones in and play the music” – that isn’t a psychological trick or tip. Music is life.²
6. “When people stop by my desk and refuse to leave me alone, I get up and refill my water bottle while they are talking to me. Instead of walking back to my desk, I walk them to theirs. They instinctively will sit down. Then I just sever the conversation and get back to work.” – bloody just say no. Make your teammates realize to respect others time. Again, passivity doesn’t at the workplace.
7. “the best way to get them [kids] to stop [asking why]” – don’t stop kids from asking why. The first thing we humans lose when we grow up is curiosity. Let them benefit out of that while they can. Curiosity makes the kids.
8. “When you’re in an argument, find something to agree on, then push your main point.” – take it from me, that only extends the argument.

And boy, the list goes on. I think each person finds their way to live through this world. You won’t need psychological tricks; at different times, you need grit, intent and always a lot of patience.