Level-Setting

I find myself putting a lot of energy into something that’s seemingly obvious when said aloud: people are different. 

There’s that phase of when people interact that they have to get on the same page. A barista and a customer have to quickly get on the same page, or else one is going to get irate. Relay runners have to coordinate on their baton passing. Those are easy examples, but what about co-workers starting on a project? 

I rationally know, but I don’t always remember that my set of knowledge and goals aren’t automatically inherent in others. Forget being on the same page, we might not even be in the same universe. 

So I have to always be cognizant that we have to level-set. To find out what we both know, what I know, what you know, and what we both don’t know. Because you know, people are different.