If you’re going to be around people, there’s going to be conflict. It’s inevitable. Conflict isn’t something that will be permanently deleted from your life. You have to learn how to deal with people in a way that minimizes conflict (and learn how to manage the stress).

Effective communication solves a lot of problems. Conversely, not only does poor communication fail to solve problems, it can create new ones. Give diplomacy a try, instead of defaulting to the primal instinct of aggression. Try to win people over—collect allies.

Think about how you can achieve the main goal, which is to solve the problem, instead of getting distracted by the desire for payback or to be proven right.