BRAD INDUSTRIES · CREW FILE · PREVENTION
The Building Super
Division of Fixing Other People’s Things
“Their leak is my emergency.”
Also goes by the caretaker, the fixer, the self-sacrificer.
If something breaks in this building, I’m already there. Not your thing. Their thing. Everybody’s thing. My own apartment has had a leak since spring. I’ll get to it.
u can rest
In red crayon: the inner child. Three words or fewer. Usually right.
His file
1What he says, and what’s underneath it
- What he says
- “I’ll handle it.”
- What he means
- If I’m needed, nobody will leave.
- The feeling under that
- Tired, and scared to say so.
- The need under that
- To be cared for without earning it.
Brad only ever says the top line. Everything under it is what he’s guarding.
2How to spot him
- Gives advice nobody asked for, kindly.
- Can’t watch someone struggle without stepping in.
- Says yes before checking the calendar.
- Feels useless when nothing needs fixing.
3Who he’s protecting
- He’s protecting
- The part of you that had to grow up too fast.
- On duty against
- Being left once nobody needs you.
- Where he got the job
- Brads like yours usually get hired early, when somebody small had to look after the grown-ups.
4His real talent
- What he’s good at
- Generous and capable. The one everybody calls in a crisis.
- Off duty, he’s
- A neighbor who brings soup and stays for dinner.
- His blind spot
- He takes care of everyone, then wonders why nobody takes care of him.
5What helps him stand down
- What he needs from you
- Let him fix one thing a day. Make it yours.
- Say this to him
- “This one isn’t ours to fix.”
- Skip this
- “You don’t have to do everything.”
- Ask him this
- “Who takes care of you?”
- Ask your people for
- Ask how you are, and wait for the real answer.
Try this tonight
Before you fix someone else’s problem, ask: “Do you want help, or do you want me to listen?”
CLEAR is 14 days of small skills like this. Join the waitlist
Your Brad, meet theirs
One file covers one Brad. Most of the trouble happens between two. Take the quiz with a partner, friend, family member or coworker, and Brad writes the joint report: the loop your two Brads get stuck in, and the words that work.