We often generate anger or feel irritation toward other people when we tell ourselves they are “stupid,” “incompetent,” “dumb,”slow,” or some some other term indicating that they do not live up to expectations or your performance standards.
We teach people in our anger management programs that the issue here is often unrealistic expectations of people or situations – on your part. After all, some people indeed don’t think as quickly as you do, some employees don’ t have your skills (or they would probably be doing what you are doing), some people just do things differently than you do, and people in your life may just have different ways of thinking than you do. (The classic example on this last point is the frustrated wife who simply asks her husband what time it is and he answers by taking 30 minutes to recite the history of the clock)
All those things may be true. But why become angry over it? The alternative is acceptance and tolerance of what you see as limitations (or differences) in others.
Fact is, they are probably not going to change. To avoid conflict and frustration, your challenge is to find a way to mentally cope with them or deal with them without the anger.
