February 12, 2010Smooth Verbal Aikido Comeback response on Facebook keeps posts on track
When my friend posted on Facebook:
“In a never-ending effort to drop 10 lbs, just bought a GoWear Fit. It’s like a BodyBugg. Anyone else have one?”
A friend that I assume means well replied,
“Try taking your focus off the 10 lbs which you DON’T want, and put it on the weight that you DO want to be 
”
My friend’s response subtly turned the conversation back from the unsolicited advice to her new purchase, when she said,
“Am I to infer you don’t have a GoWear Fit?”
Playful, poignant and also, it kept her post about her new monitoring device from turning into a discussion of her attitude toward her weight.
Nice verbal Aikido move.
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[...] Now that we know how pushy some people can be, we can go back over the conversation and see where you went wrong. Not that anything you said would have been “going wrong” with people who respect others’ choices. But where did you give this overbearing woman a hook? I’d make the main approach kind of an aikido move like in my post about how my friend handled advice on Facebook. [...]
Pingback by Reader seeks PowerPhrases to get food nazis to back off | A PowerPhrase a Week — February 12, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
The poster invited unrelated to the question comments by sharing irrelevant information to the question: “In a never-ending effort to drop 10 lbs”. She could have asked the same question that she wanted answered without giving her readers the opportunity to comment on her attitude by simply removing most of the first sentence:
“just bought a GoWear Fit. It’s like a BodyBugg. Anyone else have one?”
This question, unlike the one she posted, does not invite her readers to comment on her weight loss goals, attitudes or frustrations.
Comment by HRNamaste — February 17, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Enjoyed reading this post. Verbal Aikido…nice phrase. On a different topic I do have a GoWearFit and have worn it consistently since October 2009. I can comment to your friend about my experience and my twenty pounds of success. Ahh – positive results – such a lovely thing!
Comment by Meilee — February 17, 2010 @ 2:05 pm
I missed that one! You’re right! it’s just like the food despot where giving extra info is taken as an invitation.
Comment by merylrunion — February 17, 2010 @ 2:10 pm