We’ve all been or still are guilty of this, and here’s the thing — women tend to do this a lot. Here’s the gist: if you keep saying sorry for everything, you’re constantly taking blame onto yourself.

Try this instead. If you can — if you haven’t actually done something really bad that, by rights, you should be saying sorry for — replace that apology with a thank you. So, instead of “sorry I’m late”, go for “thanks for being so patient, my train got delayed.” Switch out “I’m sorry I’m taking so long to learn this”, with “Thank you for being so patient and helping me understand this properly.”

This shifts the focus to the positive thing the other person is doing, rather than making it all about you and your (real/perceived) shortcomings. It’s a much nicer tactic — everyone loves it when you acknowledge and appreciate how nice/patient/understanding they’re being.