Whatever your occupation, whether you are in a relationship or single, raising kids or keeping up with family, helping to take care of parents or grandparents, volunteering your time in different organizations, or spending weekends with a smaller circle of close friends, you are negotiating. 

Think about it. As we make or fend off requests, ask for favors, request changes to our travel plans, arrange to meet up with colleagues, or are on a date with a special someone, we have to negotiate on when and where to meet and what kinds of activities to share, we must take turns sharing opinions and experiences, or we must explore the opinions and experiences of those we are with. Life, in large measure, is about negotiation. Who goes first? How do we build trust and intimacy? How do we manage the dance of social interaction? 

But negotiation is a skill—one most of us haven’t learned or practiced. Most of us, most of the time, just aren’t very good at it. Maybe we’ve picked up a few tricks and strategies through trial and error, but they don’t always work, and we don’t necessarily know why they work when they do. And then, of course, there are the trickier, more formal negotiations we find ourselves in at various points in our lives—with our health care insurance over medical bills in the face of a serious illness or accident. Negotiating the terms of a divorce. Arguing with relatives or siblings over the terms of Grandma’s will. Or negotiating at work for a raise, a promotion, or more responsibility.

There are a lot of components........

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