Suppose a child comes home with a report card with five As and one B. Usually the first thing his parents will say is "Why the B?" What do you think will go through the child’s mind? Did he try for the B? Or should his parents congratulate the child for the B and accept a lower standard? Not at all.

　　What the child is really looking for acknowledgement and encouragement for the effort in getting the five As. A parent after acknowledging and praising the As, can make clear his expectations of seeing all six As and offer help if needed. If we lower our standards, the chances are pretty good that the performance next time would drop to those expectations.

　　Similarly at work, an employee does 100 things right and one thing wrong. Guess what the boss picks on.

　　Acknowledge the positive but don't lower your standards.

　　假如一個孩子帶回家一張五個A，一個B的成績單，他的父母親首先通常會這樣問：“為什么得了個B？”你認為孩子心里會怎么想？難道他是爭取得個B嗎？或者父母親應該祝賀孩子得了個B，并接受這較低的標準嗎？根本不是。

　　孩子真正盼望的是，他因努力而獲得的五個A能得到承認和鼓勵。父親或母親可以在承認和贊揚這些A之后，表明想要看到六個A的愿望，并表示如果需要，可以提供幫助。如果我們降低自己的標準，那么下一次的成績很可能低于那些期望。

　　同樣，在工作上，一個雇員做了100件正確事而做了一件錯事，猜猜老板會挑出哪件事。

　　承認積極面，但不要降低自己的標準。