Taking Other People’s Word For It

Well i have heard…

LOL just kidding. Yesterday doing my own research I was able to find an answer to something everyone tells me they heard about being vegetarian. By coincidence it had to do with nutrition. By doing research and asking those around me I found a way to answer that myth people keep repeating on why they think I to consume fish!

I am so happy you are making changes you and @therealgabo have been an inspiration for me to get back on track exercising!

Conventional thinking is the pathway to disaster. It’s fine: if you want to live a conventional life. From the looks of folks living this life, it ain’t a good thing. You simply parrot what others say, stick with the status quo, and pretty much live other people’s lives, since you let other people do your thinking for you.

Wallace Wattles said sustained consecutive thinking is the hardest work on earth, which is why do few do it. Another author noted how 1% of people actually think, 4% think they think, and 95% of people on the face of the earth would rather die, than think. I tend to agree with both statements. It’s literally exhausting at times to do your own thinking, but it’s the path to freedom. When you can form your own opinion on a topic, you can rest knowing that you collect your own facts, think them through, and make your own decisions. 

Thanks for sharing Chris.

RB

Chris, I appreciate, and in many ways agree with, your concern around using others’ words. 

Last week I finished reading (honestly!) a book written by Pierre Bayard, titled “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read”. Bayard is French, a professor of French literature, at U. of Paris, and a psychoanalyst.  The upshot of his argument is that though society obliges to read, and thoroughly, that which we talk about… perhaps we’d be better off not taking that approach.  Rather, one point Bayard highlights, is that we might  better to focus on the context of the book, and how it fits into the larger set of books on which our culture depends at the moment, our “collective library”, the meta data… 

Though Bayard’s discussion gets a bit complicated (as new ideas often are, at first) I intuitively felt he struck a nerve, especially in our info rich times, were reading is an involuntary act of non-reading… i.e., we’re not picking up and not opening all the other books available to us.

After Bayard’s book, I’m inclined to think what/how I read a bit differently, readings relationship to writing…  

Keep up the great work, and touching on what matters.

Great info and reminder to all us to do our own homework and make up our own minds.  BTW – I did the Tim Ferris Slow Carb diet twice this year for 30 days each and I can say without a doubt in my mind, it works (for me)  
I’m convinced now more than ever that all the info we need is out there, we have to sift through it and make our own decisions.  That’s why Harv Eker always says “Don’t believe a word I say!” 

The good news here is that if you aren’t afraid to stick your neck out, and form an opinion, you’ll be amongst the few. It’s been a challenge for me personally, someone that usually avoids confrontation to have an opinion, and to voice it so openly to potentially a very large audience, online. I’m over it now, people will not always like what we say, but having an opinion or diving out of our comfort zone has its rewards. 

Chris,
This is a really good topic, one that Jason Falls talked about at Blog World LA. His sessions was “This Is All Such B.S.: How to tell and what to do when you’re being had in blogging, social media and beyond…”  Jason had a lot to say but the big take-away was: “Ask better questions and do your own work!”

Just this past summer I enjoyed reading “The Help” and also seeing the movie, but I was shocked at the number of “reviewers” who had done neither.  It forced me to write a post about it on my personal blog. 

Keep us posted on the 30 day transformation. Take copious notes.

Judy

To give you a twist on what you are talking about, go to the Edward De Vere site on FACE BOOK ~ Ref the movie ANONYMOUS

Try to get a word in edge wise, even Shakespeare wouldn’t get a word in with the accademics who have it all figured out, as if!

They all think the same way!

Thanks for this one, Chris. I worry that as social media/blogging proliferates media and therefore provides more source options for news, it also makes people more comfortable with jacking others’ opinions (in the interest of time/due to laziness I suppose?) Back when we got our news from one of five places, everyone would know if you were just restating a NY Times article. Now, however, it’s harder to detect.

Chris, if you think I should use my own head I will start right away :D

I am seeing this a lot in the online world. People say, “Oooh, that person looks pretty shiny!” Then they realize that other shiny people don’t think highly of said shiny person, so then that very same person starts writing posts about how really that person is dull and unshiny. It’s really weird to me that people don’t notice these obvious shifts in their opinions, but maybe it’s just a truth that is too ugly to bear.

Hmm.

The whole world is becoming like Heathers. I’m going to go look for Christian Slater. 

Chris, allot of people are closed minded and don’t open up well to other possibilities.  Other are going to be negative no matter what.  

YES! It’s like those e-rumors folks forward w/o even using common sense screening – quickly jumping on the bandwagon of false information – ARG! What is right for one person/business is not necessarily right for you or your business.  Establish your own Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval – put newscasts, media hype, products AND ideas through a list of questions and barometer checks – then make a decision based on what’s best for you.  I believe it’s called thinking for oneself?! Thanks for the reminder Chris! @AndeLyons @BringBackDesire (where I curate every book and product – tough job, but someone’s gotta do it! ;)