320 — Dreading a Difficult Person? This Play Makes Them Less Draining—and Almost Entertaining

Want more plays to help you stay mentally strong? Pick up a copy of ⁠The Mental Strength Playbook⁠.
 
Have you ever wasted a whole day dreading a one-hour meeting? Or braced yourself for a family gathering because you dreaded seeing the family member who makes inconsiderate comments?
 
The interaction with difficult people usually don’t wear you out. It’s the anticipation of seeing them that is draining. A meeting might only last an hour, but you can lose six hours dreading it.
 
Fortunately, a simple mental strength play can turn everything around. If you run it well, and the people who used to drain you might actually start to feel a little entertaining.
 
Some of the things I talk about are:
 

• Why my therapist sister and I started playing Behavior Bingo at family gatherings.
• Why dread is so exhausting, and what your nervous system is actually doing while you brace for impact.
• How shifting from being a participant in a stressful situation to being an observer of it changes the way your brain processes the whole thing.
• The surprising reason the people who get under your skin are also the most predictable people on the planet.
• The four steps to building and running your own Behavior Bingo game.
• The four pitfalls that can make this play backfire (including the one mistake that turns emotional distance into office drama).
• When Behavior Bingo is the wrong play—and the harder conversation to have instead.

Key Takeaways:

• Transform Dread to Entertainment: View annoying behaviors as predictable patterns to shift how emotionally involved you feel.
• Psychological Distance: Become an observer instead of a participant to reduce emotional drain and anxiety.
• Predictability Reduces Threat: Recognizing and predicting behaviors diminishes their power.