John S. Gordon - Business and Personal Coach

"You have the greatness and the power.  I just help you turn on the switch."

MARVELOUS MONDAYS

 

July 21, 2014 - Issue 287

 

Passiveness

 

This is the second in a series on Assertiveness & Aggressiveness 

 

 
Dear ,

 

Welcome to Issue 287.  The mission of "Marvelous Mondays" is to offer an inspirational thought, a practical exercise, some humor, or a simple tip to jump-start your week and to enhance your life, business, outlook or relationships. 

 

Please feel free to forward "Marvelous Mondays" to others who will enjoy it.   

Did you miss a previous issue?  Click here to view an Archive.   

 

 

PASSIVENESS DEFINED

In our last issue we discussed assertiveness.  Today we introduce another personality type.  Some definitions for a passive person include being submissive or yielding.  While there are some situations when being passive is appropriate, today we are not going to discuss those.  Instead we are using passiveness as an expression for a situation that deserves a response, i.e. speaking up.

 

EXAMPLES OF PASSIVENESS BY BODY LANGUAGE

Some non-verbals clues of passiveness would be:

  • blank facial expression
  • sitting quietly 
  • arms folded
  • no eye contact
  • head resting on hands
TYPICAL PASSIVE STATEMENTS
  • "I don't care."
  • "It doesn't matter."
  • "Anything you say is fine." 
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING PASSIVE
  • Can build up resentment in the person who is passive
  • Can confuse or mislead the other person
EXERCISE
This week I invite you to reflect on the following:
  1. Are there times when you would prefer to be assertive?
  2. Are there times when being passive prevented you from getting what you wanted?
  3. How does being passive get in the way of your life?
  4. What can you do to get out of passivism and move into assertiveness?
  5. Be aware of any opportunity you have in the next week of asserting yourself.

I am trained to coach and train individuals to overcome passiveness and to acquire assertive skills.  

 

 

 

"Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive indifferent life.

-Elie Wiesel, (1928) author and Nobel Prize winner 


JOHN'S BIO
John has owned several businesses and is an attorney who has practiced in the business and estate  areas.  In addition, he coaches business owners, executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, speech makers and presenters.  He also coaches persons who are determined to accelerate their careers and leadership skills or who are considering a career move or retirement.  John uses coaching as a tool in his leadership and business results based consulting.  He is also a life coach.

                   **John is currently accepting a few new coaching clients.**