If you find yourself in the constant presence of irksome individuals, you have to take extra measures and learn how to deal with annoying people. Annoying people come in different personalities, and not all of them are even annoying in one particular way. That’s why, if you want to know how to deal with annoying people, you have to identify what exactly about them galls you.

Some people may be annoying because of their voices and how they speak. Some may just have an outlook on life that gets you down and irritates you like crazy. Others could just have an entire array of annoying habits—talking about their weekends relentlessly, burping in your face—that it takes everything you have to keep from throttling them!

You don’t need to learn a whole lot of techniques to be able to face annoying people. What it’s going to take is a great amount of patience and an ability to tune them out. Here’s what you can do to keep annoying people at bay—and keep yourself from losing your cool.

Learn how to block them. You can let yourself get worked up over the numerous annoyances or you can just distract yourself and do your thing. Ignoring the source of the annoyance is one important step to learning how to deal with annoying people. The less attention you give them, the less chance there is of them coming up to you again.

If the annoying person swooping around you talks too much and takes up a lot of your time, you don’t have to cut him off abruptly. Try responding with some perfunctory nods and “uh-huhs" while letting your mind wander; and when there’s a lull in the conversation, you can interject and say you need to be doing something else. Just don’t show any more interest than that, because that will only encourage them to regale you with more stories.

No matter what kind of annoying person you’re dealing with, it will really help to have a good long talk with him or her to set things straight.

Keeping annoying people at arm’s length can increase your chances of being unaffected by their prattle and their behavior. If you’re serious about knowing how to deal with annoying people, the best thing for you to remember is to not give them an opportunity to get into your personal space; and if you really have to interact with them regularly, then just do your best to block the irritating behavior and focus on what needs to be done instead.