Easy

Communication tip

Never tell anyone that a task or skill is easy. Saying something is "easy" is a relative term that can result in people feeling like their skill level is invalid, feeling bad about themselves, and less successful communication happening. "Easy" means something is easy for the person who is saying it.

Here is an exaggerated example (if someone doesn't know what a nut is, you may know not to say it's easy) for illustration

Person A: "Loosen that bolt, it's easy!"

Person Z: thinks to themself, what is a bolt? I know "nuts and bolts", but which one is which?

Person Z: "Which one is the bolt?"

Person A: "This one!"

Person Z: "erm, ok, thaNKS!" then tries 4 different wrenches before finding the right wrench, and turns the bolt tighty righty before eventually loosening the bolt.

Person A: is confused

Let's try this scenario again

Person A: "You see that bolt? You're going need to loosen it. Do you know how to do that?"

Person Z: "Nope!"

Person A: "You don't need to take it all the way out, just loosen it a little. That's the type of wrench you need. And to loosen it, you're going to need to turn the wrench counter-clockwise, which is the direction you would need to turn a jar lid to open it."

Person Z: 'Like this?"

Person A: "You're doing great!"

In review

But what about self confidence? It feels good to say something is easy! There's a fix for that! It's ok to say that something is easy for oneself! The trouble comes when telling someone else what should and should not be easy for them, from expecting someone else to have the same skill level as oneself.