Social Skill - Does this need to be said?

three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything

Craig Ferguson, comedian and former late night TV host put forth this piece of wisdom I want to share my thoughts about:

"
Ask yourself the three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything.
1) “Does this need to be said?”
2) “Does this need to be said by me?”
3) “Does this need to be said by me now?”
"

Replace 'said' with any action and it the principle is also applicable. To feelings as well.

Do I need to start an argument? Do I need to get mad? Do I need to stress out or worry?
Like do words just come out of my mouth without going through my brain first?
Do my emotions just flare up without my consent, or can I temper my initial reaction with some judgment.

Sometimes this mistake is not worth fussing over. I can let the person responsible deal with it appropriately at the right time. I can bring it up later if the issue persists.

But sometimes I do need to say it myself, if someone else is taking advantage of me, no one else will have the duty to speak out on my behalf. And sometimes I do need to address the matter right away, so as not to let it slip away in people's memories and the interpretations get fuzzy and my antagonist has already established his side of the story as truth, then people will not want to bring up old disagreements that they can't sort out who's right or wrong.

This is a social skill I feel I don't possess naturally, but I can acquire with practice. Being an introvert, it tires me to socialize so I have less experience to pick up subtle tactics people use and know how to deal with them. It can be overwhelming, or just plain drudgery to navigate the games people play. So, it's helpful to me when someone like Craig Ferguson can boil a social skill down to a neat interesting idea that I can practice and enjoy.