Success Lessons from a Reluctant Cat Owner – Part 3 Everyone (and Every Cat) is Different

(Note: this is part 3 of a 5 part series laying out lessons I learned from my first month owning two cats. Click here for Part 1, Part 2. A new part will be posted each day this week. Subscribe via RSS or email to make sure you don’t miss one!)

There are now two cats living in my condo, and they are incredibly different:

• One is insane, hyper, afraid of everything, and skinny.
• The other is grounded, lazy, un-phased by just about anything, and rotund.

When it comes to petting the cats (which, lets face it, is the only reason to have cats in the first place. Because they’re fun to pet), they couldn’t be more different.

The crazy one loves to be pet, but only on her own terms. If she’s sitting on the floor and you move to pick her up, bam! She runs away as if you were approaching her with a large pot and a copy of “To Serve Cats: A Cookbook.” Heck, if you start to walk in her direction without paying her any attention, she still scampers away from you.

However, when you just sit on the couch and ignore her completely, then she comes over to you. She’ll hop up on the couch and literally shove her head into your hand so you’ll pet her.

The other one is much more open to being pet. You can walk right up to her, pet her, and even pick her up and she doesn’t bat an eye or try to get away. In fact, she’s so laid back it’s almost a problem.

This is the…er…”plump” one, and in an attempt to get her some exercise we try to get her moving. However, most standard things one does to get a cat moving don’t seem to work. We come running at here to scare her, she doesn’t move a muscle; she just stares at you, wondering if you’re going to feed her.

However, she never comes over on her own. You can be sitting there looking at her, patting the couch for hours, and she’ll refuse to burn the 0.2 calories it takes to move the three feet to come over and get some love.

Two cats. Same genus and species, but two very different personalities.

Damned cats.

Once you figure her out, she can't get enough of the petting...

At first, I tried to treat them (and all cats) exactly the same. Which, to be honest, meant treating them like dogs. That didn’t work.

The thin one ran away from me. The fat one never came over to me. I felt neglected.

Then I took the time to figure out what was going on and how each cat worked. Now I am able to interact and have more fun with each one.

This sounds obvious, but we make this mistake when it comes to how we interact with other humans all the time:

• Treating all customers the same
• Treating all employees the same
• Speaking to all audiences the same
• Assuming that everyone will respond the same way we would

Whether you are talking about business contacts or personal relationships, the key is in the customization. Understand the person (or cat) you are communicating with, and then match your communication to the style that will work best with that person.

It takes a little more work, but the long term payoffs will be immense. You’ll have better rapport, get a better response, and get much better results.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go convince a cat to let me pet it…

Reminder: This was part 3 of a 5 part series laying out lessons. Read the rest of the series here: 

Part 1: Short Term Discomfort Leads to Long Term Success
Part 2: Don’t Make Things Worse Than They Are
Part 4: Listening to Experts is Important
Part 5: Communication Matters

Subscribe via RSS or email to make sure you don’t miss the upcoming parts!

Have your own “crazy cats” story (whether you learned anything from it or not)? Share it in the comments below!

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By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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