“Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can’t be accomplished.”

Napoleon Hill

I’m going to take this one step farther.  Not only who said it could not be done, but what about the cat that loves telling you how to do it, or that you are doing it all wrong?  I love (not really) when somebody butts into my life with great tips on how to run my work out program, my diet, my business, my marriage, how I should be raising my kids, ad nauseum.

“Really, Sport?  I should be listening to you because, why, again? You are at the world-class level of success in that area of your life? Oh, you’ve just recently had some small success with that, after years of screwing it up.  And now because you finally came to yourself, had an epiphany, and started to turn your ship around, suddenly your doling out advice like Lucy on Peanuts.  Guess what? Your advice isn’t even worth the 5 cents.”  (That was all a conversation that took place internally, you know, in my head.)

What I really say is, “Oh, okay.  Thanks, I’ll look into that,” and smile and move on, realizing that they mean well, and are trying.  It just came across wrong, and they have no idea how it came across, at their current level of thinking.  I’m polite (usually) to them, but don’t mistake kindness for weakness.  If that person isn’t a world-class athlete or trainer, I don’t listen to their advice about work out programs and nutrition.  I filter and vet every piece of information I internalize.  I don’t listen to someone’s advice about finances unless they are multi-multi-millions to the good.  I don’t listen to advice about my marriage from someone who has been through three divorces.  (I may call on them about the divorce process, if I’m coaching a client that is going through a nasty one though, so keep the phone line open.)

Here’s the take away:

Don’t listen to the naysayers if they haven’t produced world-class results; and don’t follow the teaching/advice of anyone you don’t want to end up like.

Boo yah!