Are you working with a colleague whose behaviour is unacceptable? Or an extremely challenging client that is demanding way more of your time than what’s stated in your contract? If you are someone who won’t say anything but tend to keep your frustrations to yourself then you need to listen to today’s show, especially if you want to keep your stress and blood pressure levels at a healthy level.

According to Annemarie Cross’s guest Donna Smith, Holistic Counselor and Trainer from Own Your Own Power keeping things bottled up inside is one of the worst things you can do. Donna works with people to help them deal effectively with conflict and one of the things she stresses is important is to speak up and voice your frustrations to help avoid the situation from escalating.

Donna speaks about the importance of having clear boundaries and encourages us to stop putting other people’s needs before our own. When you don’t stick to your boundaries, your level of frustration can increase. Frustration can turn into anger, and anger into resentment. And that’s usually how a full blown conflict situation can occur.

To avoid a conflict, Donna suggests you deal with the situation immediately. Tell the other person about your frustration by using her 3-part ‘Confrontive Eye Message’. This is where you meet with the person face to face; you get in touch your feelings; work out what the real issue is; and then come up with a tangible effect.

This process takes away the blame from both of you – a far different situation from the normal finger pointing. Blaming the other person can cause them to become defensive and aggressive leading to a lose/lose situation, which doesn’t help anyone.

Learn Donnas’ 6-step process that will provide you with the right skills you need to create a win / win solution so that both parties are happy and can continue to respect each other’s boundaries. Your blood pressure will thank you!

Annemarie Cross is also joined by Meridith Elliott Powell – Author of 42 Rules to Turn Prospects into Customers. Today, Meridith talks about Rule 31, Learn to Love Accountability. If you want to turn your prospects into customers you have to start tracking your behaviours, measure your progress and learn from your results. Meridith shows you how.