If you want the future to have a course correction, do this.

# Chapter 159

Hard conversations. These are so necessary, and all too easily put off because . . . well, they are hard conversations and the consequences may be significant and someone is likely to be unhappy. I don’t know anyone who likes hard conversations. Especially when you have to initiate them. Hard conversations don’t seem to be as had when someone else begins them, as they are when I have to begin them. Don’t know if you have the same experience, but that is my experience.

Starting a hard conversation, finding the right space to have it, getting two people in the same room uninterrupted to have it, having the right posture, the best words, and most importantly the right heart - this is a tall order - and to do something you really wish you did not have to do in the first place. No wonder so many of this super important hard conversations never actually happen. Most of the anguished I suffered in various jobs and relationships over the years, could have been alleviated if someone had just been willing to have a short hard conversation with me.

That is why I did have a hard conversation yesterday. I understand the powerfully negative consequences of NOT having these conversations. As difficult as this was, and as long as I put it off, it still had to happen. The tricky part is always to be redemptive and helpful, even while sharing the most thorny issues. Of course most of the day went much better after having this hard conversation and the future has had a course correction. You can do this.