TOR 054: The One Simple Test To Quickly Judge Someone's Character
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Evaluating someone's character is incredibly easy.
You don't need a psychology Ph.D. or some other fancy piece of paper. All you need is the ability to listen and watch people.
Start here:
Evaluate how people act with pets and kids.
Kids are the embodiment of presence.
They want to learn, play and live life to the fullest because, at this young age, that's all they know. People who are rude or dismissive to kids have deep flaws you can't fix. They make comments like, "I don't like kids," or complain about how annoying they are, even though they were once a kid.
Watch for these cues.
These kinds of people are generally selfish. All they care about is how the world revolves around them.
The same is true with pets (or, more broadly, how they treat animals).
I remove myself from people who dislike or mistreat pets unless their upbringing or a traumatic event causes them to fear a particular animal. This doesn't mean they need to have pets; it's how they treat them.
When people are disrespectful, rude, or unkind to a pet, it shows me they have a flawed view of life.
Kids and pets can teach adults profound lessons about living in the moment and not taking life so seriously.
Life should be full of play and laughter, no matter your age—kids and pets embody this unless adults have corrupted them.
You can even apply this more broadly to how people treat everyone they encounter.
Watch them in social settings.
How do they treat others? Are they kind, respectful, and genuine? Do they offer help?
I love to use this test at restaurants.
I watch how people treat the server when their order is screwed up or the restaurant makes a mistake. If they are rude or mistreat the server, that's a negative cue unless some unrelated event has hijacked their emotions and is impacting how they act at that moment.
A simple judge of someone's character is how people treat other humans and animals.
It's so simple; all you have to do is observe to begin to understand their true nature.
