Giving The Benefit Of The Doubt

I have a simple rule I live by. Both personally and professionally. It goes like this…

Give everyone the benefit of the doubt until they give you a reason to not.

In all the various voice over communities that I’m a part of I see a similar trend among them. There are a lot of voice actors bad mouthing a lot of clients, and potential clients, and often, it seems to be somewhat unfounded accusations.

Here’s the thing, not every client is out to screw you over!

Have you ever made an innocent mistake?

Have you ever made an innocent misjudgement?

Have you ever had a bill accidentally slip through the cracks?

Have you ever been late?

Have you ever forgot something?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve made my share of innocent errors in my life.

Instead of airing your frustrations in public forums and automatically assuming that everyone is out to screw you, what if you gave people the benefit of the doubt?

What if you approached the situation calmly?

What if you approached the situation respectfully?

What if you withheld immediate accusation?

What if you withheld immediate judgement?

You might be surprised to find out that people aren’t so bad after all, and many of the people you work with are people just like you and me. People trying to balance work and family and other commitments and keep it all organized and together without letting any balls drop.

But from time to time they do.

When one of those balls drops you have two choices. Help them pick it up or kick it from their reach. I don’t know about you, but I know which I want people to do for me. So that’s what I’ll do for them.