Week of Wisdom, Day One: Don't listen to me

It is now time to start Always Achieve's first Week of Wisdom. Be prepared for the greatest advice and insight ever spouted by someone yet to turn 35, make $1 million, or be involved in a major sporting event. Now, it is time for the enlightenment.

Let's start off with the topic of advice. Whether we are starting out professionally, undertaking reinvention, or simply trying to maximize the potential of an opportunity, one commodity ever present is the suggestions and insight of observers. They might be a mentor or friend we trust and admire, or a person off the street with unique perspective that possesses the potential for benefit. There are also the "experts" we meet on the street or find online and in a myriad of books and articles whose credentials and track record of success lead many to value their opinions and recommendations for success.

Learning, in all forms, is the highway on which we travel toward achievement. Knowledge, experience, and influence each play a part. However, they must work in a state of balance. This is especially true when faced with personal situations where we cannot seem to overcome the advice and "wisdom" of others, especially when our instincts tell us we are right.

It's probably happened to you before. A new idea or wave of creativity hits us and our passion drives us to proceed. Then, the advice suggests changes, alterations, and of course, avoiding the idea altogether. Our confidence shrinks, replaced with doubt and the sense of security found in the status quo.

The guidance of others serves a purpose when it facilitates your growth or development, not when it inhibits ideas or creativity. Criticism from others, whether direct or masked by "suggestions" or "points of view," provides benefit when you can take the information and improve the effectiveness of your ideas. The words of others, regardless of their source, should never get in the way of the potential latent within your strengths and passions.

The successful among those who offer advice know this well. They remember what others said of them, even when the critics thought they were only being helpful.

An effective way to understand it is to put yourself in the position of the advisor (this is not an exercise in empathy, mind you). Do you really know what the creator's idea is? Do you know what will make it work? Is there any harm in their attempt at success? If you think about it seriously, you may still want to offer your suggestions, but indicate that they, not you, are in control.

We may think we want advice, but what we really want, more often than not, is a knowledgeable hand we trust and admire to simply look us in the eye and reassure with these simple words: "don't listen to me." Phrases like that are, in themselves, a sign of success.