I looked down. She wasn't wearing shoes. She had a crayon behind her ear and peanut butter on her cheek.
You don't solve a problem from the ledge. You can’t negotiate a deal while you’re looking at the pavement. You have to step back inside the window first.
We’ve all seen the movie poster: the tired detective, the hostage negotiator, and the man standing on a narrow strip of concrete fifty stories up. man on a ledge
In the movie, they send a psychologist. In real life, my negotiator came in the form of my seven-year-old daughter.
I almost snapped at her. Don't you see I'm trying to save the house? But I didn't. Because suddenly, the ledge felt a little wider. I looked down
"Come build Legos," she said. "The tower keeps falling down."
Last Tuesday, at 2:00 PM, I became the "man on a ledge." No, I wasn't running from the law or trying to prove my innocence to a skeptical city. I was standing in my kitchen, staring at a bank statement. You don't solve a problem from the ledge
Have you ever had a "man on a ledge" moment? How did you talk yourself down? Let me know in the comments.