You know how you feel. You probably don’t know how you land. Ask someone brave.

You have complete access to your intentions and almost none to your effect. Those are two separate pieces of information, and only one of them is visible from where you stand. Most of the friction people run into comes from assuming that because they meant well, that is what arrived, which is a reasonable assumption and frequently wrong.

Ask one person who will genuinely tell you. Make the question specific: how do I come across when I am stressed, or what is it like to disagree with me. Then listen without defending, because the urge to explain yourself is what ends these conversations early.