The Jefferson Fisher Podcast - How to Talk to Someone Who Doesn’t Like You

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Let’s be real—there are people you don’t like, and there are people who don’t like you. That’s just life. But what do you do when you have to deal with them—at work, at home, or anywhere you can’t avoid them? In this episode, I’m sharing three simple strategies to keep your cool, protect your integrity, and handle these conversations like a pro. Thank you to our sponsors: Cozy Earth. Upgrade Your Every Day. Get 40% off at cozyearth.com/jefferson or use code JEFFERSON at check out. Momentous. Visit https://www.livemomentous.com/ and use code JEFFERSON for 35% off your first order. BetterHelp. Click https://betterhelp.com/jeffersonfisher for a discount on your first month of therapy. Order my new book, The Next Conversation, or listen to the full audiobook today. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show!  Want a FREE communication tip each week? Click here to join my newsletter.  Join My School of Communication Watch my podcast on YouTube  Follow me on Instagram  Follow me on TikTokFollow me on LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Call 1866-531, 2,600. Or visit connectsontario.c.c.c. Please play responsibly. All right. Let's be honest. There are people out there right now you don't like. They come to mind immediately. And the truth is, there are also other people that don't really like you. But how do you communicate with these people? When you have to be with them at work or around the house or in your community, how do you talk to them? This episode is all about how to talk to somebody who doesn't like you. All that and more coming up.

Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher podcast, where I'm on a mission to make your next conversation, the one that changes everything. If you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to ask you to do a favor that is find on the platform wherever you're listening to see where the word subscribe is or a heart or a follow and click it. It's not a forever thing. What it's doing is telling the platform that what you're listening to is good content. And that's my promise in exchange is to make you a better communicator and continue to deliver good quality content. This podcast is sponsored by Cozy Earth. I am in Southeast Texas right now,

and there is nothing more hot and humid than Southeast Texas. And there's nothing worse than sleeping in a bed that is also hot and humid. I am a hot sleeper. I radiate heat in the night. Often I'll just sleep on top of the sheets because I just get so stinking hot.

Well, Cozy Earth has changed all of that. Their sheets are on my bed right now. They, to me, are the number one when it comes to bed sheets, all things related to towels, any kind of sheet, really, they're the go-to. All right. Once I put them on my bed, I have not gone back and I am here to stay. So if you're like me and you like comfortable cozy sheets, I want you to go tocozyearth.com

slash Jefferson used to go Jefferson for 40% off. That's cozy earth.com slash jefferson used to go jefferson for 40% off. And what's even better is they offer a 100-night risk-free trial. So where can you go wrong? CozyEarth.com. And I'm not exempt from this, by the way. The whole people not liking you think. There are people that I can think right now come to mind that I don't like,

and I know that there are people listening, maybe probably not listening, but maybe some. They don't like me. And that's okay. That's normal because we're not meant to be for everybody, right? There are people in your life that if you were for everybody, you're kind of probably doing something wrong. There's going to be somebody who isn't a fan of what you're doing.

that's kind of a good sign in my world. If somebody is not always a fan of what you're doing because it means that you're on the right track, you're pushing, you're persevering, not everybody has to agree with what you're doing. That's my point. How do you handle it? How do you handle it?

How do you talk to somebody who doesn't like you? Or you don't like them. You ready? Number one, treat them like they like you. Talk to them like they like you. I know that sounds counterintuitive. That's the point. There are people that when you come into the room

and you know good and well they don't like you, what they're looking for is even more reasons not to like you. But when you start treating them just as normal as can be, like nothing ever happened in the past, it's going to not only bother them, which is pretty cool, it's also going to kind of go, huh, wait, this is not, this is not what I thought, and sometimes they'll actually feel bad

that they even ever had the impression that they didn't like you. It could work either way. The point is, don't give someone a reason to not like you because that pulls down your integrity. You be you, is my point. You be you, don't worry about if they like you or don't like you. So treat them in conversation just as pleasant

as I'm talking to you now. Big disclaimer here, you ready, big disclaimer. This is not about being fake. What I'm not telling you is to be fake and pretend that everything's fine. That's not it. I can be cordial with you, I can be kind, I can be polite, I can be respect,

without ever having to do anything with whether I like this person, prefer this person, I'm a fan of this person or not. You just be you, right? That's all that is. So if somebody's acting like they don't like you, treat them even more so like they like you. Don't worry about what they're doing. You concentrate on what you're doing, right?

And here's the key. Here's the key takeaway, and this is probably one of my favorite points, is if they don't like you, they're not that important. Most likely, they're not that important. If they genuinely don't like you, they're not that important. Why? Because that means they don't know you well enough.

They're not in a place where they can really hold any kind of judgment of you. That's really going away on you. So what do you do? Number one, treat them like they like you. What happens when you're around somebody and you know you don't really like them and they don't really like you

and you decide to kind of shift or shirk them off or act a certain way, all it does is double down on their decision not to like you. All it does is in their mind, they're going, oh, I knew I didn't like this person because all they're doing is looking for ways to justify, validate, imprint,

that impression in their mind of that they don't like you. So when you turn the tables and you act pleasant, respectful, you be you, that messes with their head and they go, huh, okay, maybe that wasn't the right impression that I was supposed to have. Maybe that wasn't the right impression I was supposed to have. Number two, if you can't do that, if you go, now Jefferson, look, I like you, man, but no, I'm not, I'm not doing that. Here's what I want you to do. Go neutral. Just go flat. That means I want you to use neutral statements. When you're talking to them and you don't want the conversation to go anywhere, use words

that are stop to the conversation that you can't do anything with. These are neutral words like, got it, noted, understood, yep, interesting. Words that nobody can, you can't continue to take those words and go anywhere. So stay neutral in the conversation. If you really can't be at a place where you can be pleasant around this person, if you're really deciding that you're just going to go sour, which I get it. We're normal and human. At least try to go neutral where there's nothing negative you're going to be doing. There's nothing positive you're going to be doing. So use statements that keep the conversation neutral. You're

not inflaming anything. You are going to use statements that really can't do anything with. So if they talk to you instead of having this attitude or making things worse or just confirming their belief for whatever reason that they don't like you or you don't like them. It's got it. Noted. Thank you. Understood. Appreciate it. You see how I'm not even using full sentences. It's not I appreciate that. It's appreciate it. Cool. Using very shortened versions that are very neutral, very flat, nobody can do anything with them. Now before we keep going, I want to take a second to tell you about Momentus. Momentus is a sponsor of this podcast because I use their stuff. it's a supplement company. About a year ago, I decided to really care about what I'm putting in my body. I'm a father. I'm not an author. I'm a speaker. I'm an attorney. I wear a lot of hats. And that means I need to go, hey, wait a second. How is my health? And so when I think of what I'm not getting in my diet, I know that Momentus helps me with that. I take a lot of their products. Long before they ever sponsored this podcast, they have a whole sleep stack. They help me sleep better. I have things like their cretine, their proteins.

or omega-3s to help me with my workouts, I have their magnesium, which is very big and it's helped me even with any stress and anxiety. So it's good stuff. And I know like you, I don't have time to research every little supplement. Momentus makes it easy, easy to order. The products are clean. It's effective and it's trustworthy. Go to livemomentus.com, use to coat Jefferson, and get up to 35% off your first subscription. That's livemomentis.com. the code Jefferson and get up to 35% off your first subscription. Momentous. When your moment matters, make it count. And now back to the episode. Number three, keep the sarcasm, the snarkiness at home. All right? Instead, stick to facts. If it's somebody who does not like you,

instead of reinforcing and emboldening that decision of them, I think that's a word, emboldened. ending? Let's say it is. You get my point. Instead of that, just stick to facts. Here's what I mean. Let's say you're in an office at a meeting and somebody comes in and you know you don't really like them. They don't really like you. And they ask a question and they're like, what did I miss? And you say, well, I mean, if you were here, you would know that's sarcasm, that nothing but to make you feel better and it's going to make them dislike you even more. Where you come in and you come in and and you go, well, I mean, it would be nice if somebody did. Or, well, if you were around or if you really cared,

you'd find out these passive, aggressive comments, stop that. So just empty out the passive aggressive comments. They don't do anything. I know in that moment, because you kind of want to jab them, right? You want to go, yeah, I know you don't like me, so let me just poke you in the eye with this stick. Don't do that. All right?

Keep that home. Instead, just stick to facts. Facts as reasons why you're here and why you're going to leave it at some certain future. So let's say instead, if they ask for the time, you're just going to give the time to give the snarkiness. If you come in, say, I'm here to discuss this or I need to talk to you about why. There's not a, okay, well, I got to talk to you and I guess, okay, I guess we're doing this. So here's the thing. get rid of all that.

Get rid of all of it. It's not serving you. It's not making you a better person. Instead, just stick neutral to the facts. There's so much in this because it's natural for us to not like people. Again, if they don't like you, they're not that important. And that's okay. And I can get down with the idea of if you don't have somebody who's rooting against you,

it means you're not going towards something important enough. Like if you don't have, if, if you're not chasing something, maybe it's a business that you're building, maybe it's a content that you're trying to create. If you have people that are the naysayers, the people that are doubting you, then typically it means, in my mind, your goals aren't big enough. Yeah, you need to reach for these goals that are so big and you feel like you're doing something so important that, of course, you're going to have people who are on the other side of it. It's a healthy, it's a healthy thing. I know it's hard to kind of think in that mindset, but that's at least my outlook. It means if you don't have people that are nice thing,

it's because your goals aren't big enough. Now, there are going to be people out there that aren't going to be fans of you just for whatever reason. It doesn't matter. Typically, they're jealous. Typically, they have some kind of preconceived notion. They gossip about you behind your back. And we've addressed a lot of these topics in the podcast

and the podcast episodes to come, But the point here is, don't give somebody a reason to not like you just because you can. Don't allow them to change who you are. Don't allow them to lower your character or your integrity because of some preconceived notion. And here's this other truth. You ready? Opinions change. There are people that I used to not like.

And now I'm like, you know what, that was kind of dumb of me back then. I actually liked this person or vice versa. and it flips, you think somebody's great, and you realize I got to know them and kind of empty inside. I don't agree. This doesn't match and align with my values anymore. People change. My guess, if you're listening right now,

there's somebody that you weren't really a fan of, and then now you're like, I kind of like this person. It goes to the same thing with siblings. You grew up as siblings, like I know two sisters who hated each other, and now they're like the best of friends. It happens. Co-workers, you're like, I'm not really a fan of them. At the end, you're great.

Why? Because time changes things. Always keep your head above the water. Operative frequency that says, I'm going to be true to me regardless of what anybody else is going to do. So what do you do? How do you talk to somebody who doesn't like you? Number one, act like they do.

Treat them like they like you. You talk exactly like they like you. Why? Because that is your choice. And you're not allowing your preconceived notion of what they think about you. to control any of your behavior. Are you with me? Good.

Two, if you can't do that, keep your motions in a vacuum. That means you're going to use neutral flat statements. They don't do anything. Like, thanks, got it, understood. That's not the best, but at least it's going to keep you flat. Number three, keep all the passive, aggressive, sarcastic comments at home. Things that are going to flare it up, leave that alone.

Instead, just operate on the facts. Why you're there, what you need to talk. about get in, get out, get safe. And keep in mind, opinions always change. So as always, you can try that and follow me.