# Don't Take This Personally By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-05-30 There is an interesting phenomenon in which people preface deeply personal and often offensive statements by saying, “don’t take this personally.” How else can a person take a comment that is directed towards, and is about, oneself? Personal comments are, in fact, personal. So, given this is axiomatic, one benefits from analyzing why a person might use the phrase “don’t take this personally.” Perhaps this is simply a common phrase people largely adopt without much thought or intention. It is just what people say. A different motivation is that the person speaking wants to critique another but wants to be free from any consequence associated with the critique. It would be more constructive to make a statement like “here are my perceptions…what do you think?” In this way, one is engaging another in a deeply personal exchange of perceptions, interpretations, and consequences. Such a conversation is likely more productive than telling another person how not to respond. Despite the notion that things aren’t personal, it's only business, it is personal because it relates and affects us as individuals and humans. That is personal, and it benefits from being taken personally. #### Related Items [[Business]] [[Thinking]] [[Critique]] [[Perception]] [[Individuals]] [[The Human Condition]]