Tuesday, February 19, 2008

More life lessons...

The more I travel, the more I learn about myself as I interact with others. This time it's the suggestions that other people freely give me without my asking for them...

Suggest - definition
a: to seek to influence
b: to call forth
c: to mention or imply as a possibility

I have come to realize that I am not a very suggestible person. I have also realized that I am a little ADHD. It's all part of what I call tunnel vision. Once I have my mind made up, I am not open to input most of the time. By the time I vocalize my intentions, I am usually not interested in input. I guess I feel that I get enough input from my family that anyone else is just over kill. I'm 41 for goodness sake, don't I have the right to make choices of my very own?

I'm tired of getting in trouble for not taking suggestions. They can start with "why don't you..." when what they really mean is "you must do as I say". Sort of the difference between A and C in the definition. It should be C but it ends up being A. They seek to influence me when I already have my mind pretty much made up. Now I'm not saying not to make suggestions, I'm saying to have low expectations of the person you are making them to actually following them. That way, you have a higher chance of not being disappointed.

So when you make suggestions, to anyone, please try to be prepared for them not to want the input they did not ask for first. This way, you don't get pissed off when they blow you off. It just might be that they already know exactly what they want to do. While well intended, your suggestion might just be the most unwanted thing they hear all day.

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