“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

OUCH! Here’s a great way to locate your level of consciousness and thinking, are you discussing ideas, events, or other people?  Don’t get wrapped up into the drama of gossiping about what other folks did or didn’t do.  Don’t waste your mental and emotional energy by getting upset about what’s happening in the news or on the field of play.  Yes, be aware of your surroundings, be aware of current events, be aware of unscrupulous behavior of those crossing your path, but don’t waste your time and energy getting sucked into discussions about those things.

I come across this type of thing almost every day.  If you look at the comments section of any post, whether news article or status update, people locate themselves.  Getting emotionally drained by engaging in an exasperating “debate” about somebody’s opinion, only helps feed the ego of that somebody.  I’ve got better things to spend my emotions on than some kook who is craving attention, either by doing something stupid (Bad Grandpa) or by posting a skewed opinion piece on the internet.

Tom Corley, in his book “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals”, performed a 5 year case study of 350 “rich” and “poor” folks.  He defined the rich as making $160,000/year or more, and the poor as earning under $30,000/year.  During his study, he found that 6% of the rich gossip, and a whopping 79% of the poor spend time and energy gossiping.  WOW!

I’m not saying that if you gossip you’ll be on the lower end of the income spectrum, or that if you thrive on blather about other people or pop happenings you doom your net worth, the statistics are saying it.  It’s most likely not about the act of gossiping itself, it’s probably more about the waste of time, talent and energy spent on nonsense.  You know, stuff that doesn’t help you move forward in any way, shape or form.

If talking about how imprudent the “local train wreck” is makes you feel better, you might want to check the tracks your own train is running on…..just saying.

Boo yah!