To begin with this article, we should know first: what is assertiveness?
According to The Free Dictionary, Assertiveness is “Confident and direct in claiming one’s rights or putting forwards one’s views”. From this, we can infere that assertiveness is to stand up for your points of view and your visión about something, being sure that’s the right thing and directly. It’s like a key for communication. Bein assertive has it’s conditions as well.
When somebody becomes agressive while defending his points of view and tries to surpress everyone, it’s called “Agressive type.”
On the other side, when somebody lets people step over them and doesn’t express his thoughs, it’s called “passive type”.
An assertive type is into both of them. An assertive person can express his ideas without hurting other people or steping over them. They are sometimes natural leaders thanks to this and can say “no” when they actually want to say no; they don’t try to hide the “no” between their words, it goes directly.
What should you check to know if you’re an assertive person? First you should ask yourself: Do I say “yes” when I mean “no”? Or do I step over other people to gain what I want to? These are two of the most important things.
Now, you should check, as well, the way you speak. Your tone and expressions describe a lot about your type. Do they seem friendly? Or do they make the other person unconfortable? An assertive person will always try to make the other person understand him clearly, and here’s where gestures come. If you scare the person, they won’t want anything with you. If the person sees you like a submissive type, they might abuse you –depending on what type the other person is- But an assertive person, they get the open door to the other person’s mind.