Staying objective and limiting the influence of others

If you want to stay relevant on the web, update your blog about once a month like I do. If you want to make good decisions that will put you on the path to happiness, stay objective.

New York is a big place, with lots of people (and opinions) on hand. The people, they love being involved in someone else’s life. They love sharing their opinions because they want to reaffirm their own choices in the public forum and bounce them off someone else’s. Don’t fall victim to this. In fact, ignore it at all costs and frequently consider doing the opposite.

Family are the biggest offenders. They mean well, but evaluate everything in terms of their own life. You’re not your parent’s peer, you’re their child. Therefore what works for them, may not work for you and visa versa. Friends are a close secondary influence that should usually be ignored, unless completely supportive and in line with your own thinking (at which point, realize that friend is the shit and you should hang on to them for life).

Once you’re able to keep outside influence at bay, consider objectivity. If you’ve ever known something and then found out it was not true, you should be open to the possibility that this could be the case with everything else you know right now. After all, the world is a crazy unpredictable place. Things can get weird. Objectivity lets you observe something from all angles (literally and figurative) to assess the facts and spot-check your perception. A perception could open your eyes, or blind you terribly. When you make a conscious effort to assess things objectively, you can think through the variables of who’s involved, what’s at stake, what kind of incentives are present and the like. This is especially important when people are involved.

Here’s to ignoring outside influence, looking within and acting on our decisions with only our own, personal happiness in mind.