Wake up!
Make sure your audience is awake when you give instructions.
When I was a teenager I always hated it whenever my mother or father opened my bedroom door just a crack, stuck their heads in told me something - like me that it was time for school - while I was still asleep! I would only be vaguely aware that they were there telling me something, and then after they left I would sit up in bed asking, “Huh? What?” Why do people do that? It’s not only parents, but wives do it, too.
I hate when that happens.
It’s a perfect example of the habitual violation of plain common sense. Don’t give people instructions when they are sleeping! Ministers, don’t deliver a sermon longer than 15-minutes! School principles follow the same advice when giving addresses at important school events like graduations! Or, better yet, people, just shut up. I have no inhibition whatsoever standing up and walking out on people who are boring me to death with their incessant talk. Blah, blah, blah. More and more I am of the opinion that the only legitimate reason for people to talk is if their words can improve the silence. So, don’t talk unless you can improve the silence. And, make sure your audience is awake when you give instructions. And, better not talk to someone at all unless they are in the same room as you. It’s ridiculous to say something to your husband if you are in the bedroom and he is in the kitchen and then get angry because he didn’t hear you. In such a case, who’s really at fault?