Who do you listen to, when everybody is an expert?
“The reason I became a matchmaker is because I sucked at love” – Patti Stanger from Bravo’s The Millionaire Matchmaker
As a cadet, there were plenty of kids at the gym who couldn’t lift any more than I could, talking about how to “get ripped quick.” I always enjoyed the irony in that. Not long after I graduated, I noticed I was driving a nicer car than the “financial advisers” who were eager to invest my money for me.
That’s when I stopped listening to most people’s point of view on important topics, like money, health, and relationships.
Listening is probably a prerequisite in life, even though some people get away with not listening for a living, but I don’t think that means that you have to pay attention to everybody. Rapidly separating the non-qualified points of view from the ones that matter may be one of the Top Five lessons I plan on bestowing upon my kids. Right up there with respecting the rules of a system before attempting to break or bend them…
There are a lot of important things going on in the world at any given moment. And there are a lot of important people here to tell you what you should think about them. But it’s important to verify an individual’s actual level of authority on the topic against their self proclaimed level of authority on said topic, before you consider listening to them. What are my credentials to make such a statement? See you’re doing it already, that’s good.
Keep it up.
There are many Chris Hall's in this world. This one blogs and tweets under the code name: hallicious.
