Why do I treat every relationship like a deal to close?

You got good at one thing: closing. You read the room, find the lever, move the deal forward. It built your career. But now you use it everywhere — with your team, your friends, the people who love you. Every conversation has become a close. This is not a character flaw. It is a tool that outgrew its job. The skill did not break you. It crowded out every other skill you own. The part of you that just talks, or listens, or sits with someone without trying to move them — that part has gone quiet from disuse. You are not alone in this. Your pod has people who built the same habit in other trades. Say it out loud together. The deal-maker in you is loud and confident. The person underneath needs practice speaking again, and that happens faster when others are watching and willing to call you on it.