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Potato People -- Writer's Poke #201

For about ten bucks, you can buy Dr. Verna Price's "The Power of People: Four Kinds of People That Can Change Your Life."

In this book, released in 2002, Price says that people either add or multiple value to your life, or they subtract or divide value from your life. The end.

Now, this book is 130 pages long, so Price obviously includes examples to prove her thesis, but do we really need examples to understand that her point, such as it is, has merit?

Perhaps the real question is, what do you do with the subtractors and dividers in your life? Do you flee from them, and solely associate with the adders and multipliers? That makes a lot of selfish sense, but if you consider yourself to be an adder or a multiplier in their lives, don't you have a moral obligation to stay, even if they are toxic individuals?

When I was in junior high, I wrote a talk for church, based on the idea that there are four kinds of potato people: Spec-tators, participa-tators, anticipa-tators, and innova-tators. Perhaps I should write a book about this? After all, I have a PhD, so people are bound to listen to me.

Think of a person that has added/multiplied/subtracted/divided value to your life. What have you given/taken from that person? Should all relationships be mutually beneficial for them to continue?

"The relationships we have with the world are largely determined by the relationships we have with ourselves." -- Greg Anderson

Comments

  1. People listened to you then as well. I had wondered if you remembered that talk.

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