Tact helps you succeed without making an enemy.

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.

-Isaac Newton
The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as  “the ability to say or do the right thing without making anyone unhappy or angry.”

For doing something, you must interact with others. This interaction affects others. How does it affect? It makes somebody happy, unhappy or angry. When such unhappiness or anger crosses its threshold limit, you make enemies. So saying or doing the right thing make your enemies or allies.

Doing your jobs without making enemies is your tact. Your tact determines your success in every sphere of your life. If you don’t have any tact, your colleagues, your neighbours or your students and so on criticize you even you say or do the right thing. They can get angry with your so-called saying or doing the right things. They even find your faults, criticize you and your right things. Am I right? If not, please correct me.

In other words, when you do the right thing, you make enemies by default and you are not tactful.

Some people like you saying or doing the right things. As a result, they become your allies. If it happens, then you are tactful. Your tact and your allies will make you successful.

Use tact to become tactful :

Think before you speak

Think, think and think until you have clear thoughts. Your clear thoughts recognize who may react to your words or oppose you in doing your things. Even it can help you to choose the right moment and right perspective. Then you open your mouth.

Use your words carefully

Clear thinking helps in the flow of suitable words. If you don’t use suitable words, you make enemies deliberately. But your target is making a point without making enemies. So use your words carefully.

Choose the right moment

Don’t rush. Wait for the right moment when everybody is in a relaxed state. Use of clear thoughts, proper words and right moment make you tactful.

Don’t expose too much your personal information to whom you don’t know very well.

When you do otherwise, others may exploit you. You become hostile to them and hence make them the enemy.

Don’t react emotionally.

If you react emotionally to others, you make them unhappy, angry and lastly your enemies. In that case, you lose your tact.

See from the perspective of others.

Put yourself in the place of others and see the big picture. When you do this, you treat others with empathy, use proper words and behave with compassion. So you become tactful.

Be an active listener

Listen to what others say. Listen with full attention. When you do it, you can understand the real message of others. Moreover When you are attentive to others, then they feel important and consider you as their ally. so your tactfulness improves.

Be considerate, respectful and empathetic.

Any human being around you expects compassion, respect and empathy from you. He is either your parent, your son, your colleague or your teacher so on. So be considerate, respectful and empathetic about the persons as mentioned above. It not only improves your tact but also helps in your overall success.

So, we can close here, tact helps you succeed without making an enemy.