How To Become Independent From The Opinions Of Other People

I used to give too much of a damn about other people’s opinions of me. As If It was my duty to abide by them or seek approval from others.
I was trapped in a mental cage that I built with my own petty thoughts, actions and habits. Those actions and habits hurt my self esteem and my self confidence unknowingly.
The only way I was able to escape that cage was to become independent from the opinions of other people. I had to finally summon up the courage to use my key and set myself free from the mental cage I’d been in for so long.
How did I do that?
How can you do that?
How is that possible?
I’m going to get into how YOU can become independent from the opinions of other people, in 5 straightforward steps…
So YOU can free yourself from the mental cage you’ve built accidentally.

1. Write down the pros and cons.

The unhappiest people in this world are those who care the most about what people think. – C. Joybell

Giving a damn about others opinions is like giving up your happiness. There’s none left for you and it makes you miserable.
Write down the benefits and disadvantages to caring about what people think.
Get down every little detail and every bit of logic and facts about how it benefits you and how it does not.
The point of this exercise is to help you look at things logically, instead of emotionally.
When you look at it logically, you’ll realize there IS no benefit to being dependent on people’s opinions of you. And being sensitive towards what others think about you.
And you’ll realize the only thing caring about the opinions of others will do for you is:

1. Make you miserable.
2. Hold you back from what you want to do.
3. Distract you from what’s important.
4. Cause you to be unproductive.
5. Slow you down.

So get down the pros and cons to force yourself to make a logical decision. And the right decision.

2. Get out of your mind and move into action.

Overthinking ruins you. Ruins the situation, twists things around, makes you worry. And makes everything much worse than it actually is. – Unknown

I was in my mind way too often. And not for the right reasons, either. I was a slave to other people’s opinions and there’s no happiness in being someone’s slave.
By not taking action you’re basically saying “what people think of me is more important than what I want to do”.
You’ve got to get out of your MIND and move into action. Staying in your mind and thinking yourself to death will keep you at the mercy of other people’s opinions.
Once you commit to taking action on the things you want to do, and the choices you want to make, eventually it becomes a habit. And once it becomes a habit, you’ll get used to it and won’t give it a second thought.
You’ll become more responsible, more willing, fear will have LESS power over you, because you’ll have more power over your mind, your actions and yourself.
But it all starts with taking action as I learned the hard way. Less thinking and more action!

3. Ask the right questions.

The opinion which other people have of you is their problem, not yours. – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

This point goes back to point number 1. You need to get logical before you can free yourself from the chains you’ve put yourself in.
I remember when I started my first business and I was afraid of inviting my entire Facebook friends list to my business page. I thought to myself –

1. What If they don’t support it?
2. What if they don’t care?
3. They won’t support it so what’s the point?

Then I got to a point where I asked myself –

• Does it even matter?

And these are types of questions you need to ask yourself.

• Does it even matter that others have a negative opinion about your wants and desires?
• Does it make you any happier?
• Does it make your life any better?
• Is it adding value to your life in any way?
• What’s more important, your happiness or their opinions?
• What’s more important, what YOU want or what they expect of you?
• Is it really such a big deal if they have an opinion about what you want to do or are already doing?

Ask yourself a bunch of the right questions. And the logical answers you get from asking these questions will be enough to snap you out of your way of thinking.
Remember, be logical, never emotional!

Wednesday, 27 July 2016