The good – and bad – thing about some social media sites is that they’re constantly sharing old content. Although it can get a bit repetitive, it also allows us to discover stuff we may have missed first (second, third or sixteenth) time around.

I tend to be a sucker for a good quote or click-bait-like headline. And while I make fun of inspirational quotes and other similarly wanky fodder, I find myself clicking on links which promise to solve all of my problems and make me a better person. So this – via Huffington Post – caught my attention:.

The article, by Laura Campbell takes a bit of a negative spin on the topic as she considers some stuff she’s not handled well and wonders how that translates to EVERYTHING in her life.

I’ve read some similar pieces since (as the topic intrigued me and I did some research – aka: googling) and they took the reverse approach – assuming how they typically do / react to something, will be how they respond / react / do anything else.

But because I’m still playing Pollyanna’s glad game for these Thursday posts, my take on this quote and the original article, is actually quite different.

I tend to be hard on myself. One of my many shrinks (seen at various points in my life… not at the same time!) referenced my clinical perfectionism. Mostly I struggle to find the positives in my behaviour, feelings and achievements… more often than not, feeling like a big fat, single, childless, achieved-little-in-life failure.

However… I’ve been thinking about this (unsourced) quote and suggestion posed in the HuffPo piece:

How you handle and manage any situation, challenge or experience in your life is how you probably handle all of them.

And I realised… there are some things I actually handle well. And if not well… fine-ish.

I stick to my commitments, promises and deadlines. I’m a terrible procrastinator but, if I’ve said I’ll have something done by a certain time (like this post by 7.30am Thursday morning), I’ll bloody-well have it done. And… I’m the same with most stuff. If I tell someone I’ll do something (pick them up, babysit, or whatever), I’ll do it.

I worry about the feelings of others. Too much so sometimes. Like most people I don’t like to hurt anyone, but I feel compelled to often make up for the behaviour of others. Again, it’s something I do in my private life, but I do it professionally as well. I’ll over-explain for others, or re-word their rants. I’ll try to manage a situation to minimise conflict.

And considering the reverse…. knowing that we tend to approach (everything) in a certain way can help plan around these ummm…. foibles. I tend to get overwhelmed with my #ToDo lists pretty easily. Too many commitments see me bunkering down and doing sweet ‘eff’ all. However… if I break my list into manageable chunks or small steps, I feel quite comfortable with each tiny task – eventually ticking everything off.

The ‘how we do anything / something is how we do everything’ quote is also a reminder that it’s pretty hard for people to fake it all of the time. It’s almost impossible to avoid our true nature. Our bad… and our good characteristics come bounding through any facade we build. And knowing this can help us amplify the good and manage the bad.

Do you think the ‘how we do anything is how we do everything’ quote is true for you and those you know? Are there exceptions?

I’ve joined Leanne from Deep Fried Fruit and some other bloggers to help promote “ageing positively” and the Lovin’ Life mindset across the interwebs. You can link up via any one of us!