Does the title of this post not explain itself?

People who know what they’re doing stay calm under pressure. Things that bother some people don’t bother them. People who don’t know what they’re doing freak out at little things.

In money terms, if you don’t have enough to live on, problems on the scale of a few dollars may bother you. If you have millions, problems of a thousands of dollars may not bother you.

In terms of social and leadership skills, if you don’t have enough skills to get a job done, small issues will bother you. If your skills aren’t enough to live on, you’ll have trouble every day. People won’t want to interact with you or follow you. If you have great social and leadership skills, you may not even see what other people consider challenges.

You might even find some interactions enjoyable or learning experiences that confound others and ruin their days.

I’ve found this phenomenon works both ways, at least for social and leadership skills. Not only if you’re important do things not bother you, but if you can treat what others consider a major problem as something you can solve and stay calm under pressure, people will see you as important and someone they can follow. Of course you have to deliver and solve the problem or they’ll lose interest, but it’s a start.

My everybody gets fifteen minutes rule has worked wonders for me in this area. Making something that was a problem too small to worry about has transitioned something that repelled people to something that attracts them.

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