ITL260: How to Deal with People Who Hold Grudges

In the Loop with Andy Andrews

In this episode, we discuss the best way to deal with people who are bitter. It’s important to understand the difference between a choice and a mistake. • A mistake is something like turning right at a stop sign when you were supposed to turn left, causing you to arrive late to a meeting. You can apologize for this. • A choice is something that was deliberately done, knowing it was wrong. You can’t apologize for this—you can only ask for forgiveness. After doing all you can do, the best way to deal with a bitter person is to ignore or avoid them. • If you humble yourself and express remorse when asking for forgiveness, you’ve really done all you can do. • We can only control ourselves (how we react to bitterness and how we forgive others). If you are the person holding the grudge, being bitter will only hurt you. • People can sense bitterness in others. • Holding a grudge makes you less effective in business. • If you don’t learn to forgive, your bitterness will last forever. Tune in to hear how Andy’s book, The Heart Mender, restored the relationship between a father and son who were estranged for 11 years.

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details.

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

• Phone: [phone]-ANDY
• Email: [e-mail]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
• Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor