Why ask others for their opinions or thoughts? Don’t you know yourself better than anybody else?

Don’t listen to me

The problem of asking the opinions of others is that they always give you advice from their perspective, or their shoes.

All advice is autobiographical. Therefore the advice someone else gives you will be based on their life experiences, their thoughts, their opinions, and their emotions.

But nobody knows you as well as you do. So why even bother asking someone else for their opinion?

Who to ask for an opinion?

Generally the only people I ask for advice or their opinion is people who know me quite well. But even they are fallible — because they don’t know me as well as I know myself.

Why is it that we consult others for their opinion, more than we consult ourselves for our own opinion?

What do I think?

Rather than asking others: “What do you think?” let us start asking ourselves: “What do I think?”

Before consulting the opinion of others, consult your own opinion, your own conscience.

Consult your own opinion when it comes to:

• “Is this photo any good or not?”
• “Should I move?”
• “Should I take this new job?”
• “Will this business idea work out?”
• “Am I handsome, pretty, or beautiful?”

Don’t care whether others like you or not. Ask yourself, “Do I like myself?”

Don’t care whether others like your photos or not. Ask yourself, “Do I like my own photos?”

If you have a business idea that is truly revolutionary or innovative— everyone is going to think it is a bad idea (because it has never been done before, so there is no reference point). You just need to be crazy enough as an entrepreneur to try it out for yourself, but of course while limiting your downside or risk.

Consult yourself first

Let us practice to think for ourselves, before consulting others. We still want to solicit the feedback of others, but let our feedback be limited to those we trust, and those who know us well.

And above all, let us consult ourselves before consulting others.

What is our own opinion of ourselves, our thoughts, and our actions?

Nobody knows you better than yourself.

And aren’t you the most important person to yourself? If so, why do you care more about what others think of you, rather than what you think of yourself?

Always,
Eric

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