There was a movie recently that said, “Manners make the man”, and this is so very true. Manners and etiquette have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years and they are still just as important today as they were when they were first created. Manners can help you get through life much easier and give you a higher chance of success in your endeavors, and the cost of using them is minor. It’s a knowledge that will pay for itself over and over again. It’s best to start learning manners and etiquette when you’re young, but it doesn’t mean you can’t learn them and use them when you’re older. You just have to accept the importance of them. A lot of etiquette and manners have been pushed aside as silly over the years, but we’re going to show you how very untrue that is. Manners can be as simple as learning how to say thank you, which almost everyone teaches their child and knows the importance of, all the way to how to act when you meet royalty. Manners are very important and never-ending so here are a few things you should think about.

It’s not silly

As much as people may think manners and etiquette are silly, they most certainly are not. Very often a man will make a joke of opening a door for a lady or pulling a chair out for lady, but they are just scratching the surface of it and doing it for fun. There are things you should do and learn to do in almost every situation with manners, and once you understand the basics. It carries it across all aspects of your life. It was taken extremely seriously in past days and it’s only in the recent decades that it seems it has fallen into a bit of a joke. But let us ask you; is saying thank you a joke? You know that it’s not, it’s just you need to accept that all the other things are almost as important.

Rules for a reason

The rules of etiquette are there for a reason. They have been developed over centuries. Some of them are not as appropriate as they used to be, as culture changes, but almost all of them have a reason that they were there and put in place. It can be as simple as shaking hands, which shows your open hand and is a less threatening when meeting with a new person. Even things such as a salute are to mimic opening the visor on a knight’s helmet to show their face to show they are less of a threat. There are rules with etiquette and all of them have a point. You may not know what the point is, and it may seem silly to you, but the reality is there’s a reason.

Less stress

When you know etiquette and manners you will find that your life is much less stressful. If you are thrown into a situation where you do not know what to do and you know etiquette you will suddenly find that you do know what is required of you. You can mix with anybody. For example, if you’re suddenly invited to a rich business owner’s house for a dinner party, and it’s well out of your social sphere, with good manners and etiquette, you will find you fit right in. You will make an impression. Instead of stressing about things. Etiquette and manners let you just take care of it. You know what to rely on and fall back on, so there’s no more stress. You can deal with the minutiae today because all the bigger things are being taking care of.

Get more done

Another great aspect of etiquette is the ability to get more done in any business interactions or any other type of interactions. It helps you know what to do, and get pleasantries out of the way. For example, if your meeting at a company boardroom to discuss a business proposition, there’s etiquette there to, most of it is not written down and is just learned over experience, but you will find that higher executives take it in stride. They do what needs to be done in the order that it needs to be done and then they can get down to business and everything works smoothly. If you do not know that etiquette, it throws a cog in the works and makes it a lot harder to get everything accomplished and done. So the more you know the etiquette of the situation, the more you can get things done.

Comfortable in any situation

Once you know manners and etiquette you will find that it’s easy to be in almost any social situation. All the difficulties and rules that make you uncomfortable are taking care of, everything from how to act to who to talk to, or how to dress is covered in good etiquette. Very often we hear people say they don’t know how to act when they’re going to a certain place or a certain event, and that’s what etiquette is for. It’s a user manual on how to act in most situations. Whether that situation is sitting in a backyard barbecue party having a beer, or its wearing black tie at some charity event, once you know the rules and have the etiquette and manners, you can feel comfortable in any of those situations without worrying that you’re going to stand out in the wrong way.

More chance of success

When you have manners and know some etiquette, you have a greater chance of success in your life. Whether it is with a relationship or business, you will find that it advances you much further than you would normally think. For example, many business deals are done and gifts are given, but when was the last time that you heard of anyone sending a thank you card to that business. Very few people do, but the ones that do have a return that far outweighs the effort to write it. In fact, most people are so shocked to get a thank you card that it is even more important these days to send one. The simple act of sending a thank you card, or reciprocating in kind, or even just knowing how to act, will carry you a long way. Another example, as per a relationship, if you’re going over to a prospective girlfriend’s parents’ house, most men live in terror of this scenario. But if you know how to act, you’ll find that you can take control of the situation and make an extremely good impression and all that stress and worry and terror will go away.

Manners are more important these days than they ever were before. And why is that? It’s because people don’t use them as well as they could. You will stand head and shoulders above those that don’t. Having manners is not putting on airs, or acting like you’re entitled, or pretending you’re better than everyone else, it’s acting appropriately in the appropriate situation and understanding why. There is etiquette in almost every situation, there is even etiquette in a football tailgate party, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you know it. Even in the most common of get-togethers, there is always going to be some etiquette and manners involved, you just have to learn what they are. Manners are important, etiquette is important, and if you want your life to be smoother and more successful, then learn them. You’ll never regret it.