Negotiation is everywhere in our lives – we just don’t realize it. Dealing with bosses, spouses, kids — so often it’s a veiled negotiation. High prices and low salaries are often a tax on the inability to cut a deal well.

Problem is, some of us really don’t like negotiating. We equate the word with “zero-sum Thunderdome battle to the death.” And in our personal lives we’re afraid of being too pushy and alienating loved ones.

It doesn’t have to be that bad or involve the breaking of furniture. ...