My teammate Rick gave me a helpful piece of advice last year. He said, “If somebody gives you input and you’re not sure if you agree with it, ask, ‘What do you base that on?’ ”
I ask that question a lot now and it is helping me get a clearer view of where people’s ideas are coming from. Some people are just sharing their thoughts, some are sharing their experience, and some are sharing their research. None of these approaches are necessarily right or wrong. The thought could be a great one, even if it’s only backed up by a gut. The experience or research could be highly applicable to a given situation—or not.
The idea of “What do you base that on?” is to know where a person’s input is coming from—as opposed to assuming. At that point, your own gut, experience, or research can help you decide if the input is worth following.
I hope Rick’s advice helps you like it is helping me.
—Max
P.S. I’ll be back next week with more thoughts on creating a personal development checklist. Your insights have been so helpful!
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