TLDR: On a scale of what is true, to what is credible, to what you think of yourself, where do you burn the most mental energy and are you being objective?
What is true
I heard a leader once share an anecdote that, when receiving feedback, everything is somewhere between 1% and 99% true.
That is, feedback and opinions are never 100% true or 100% false, and it’s up to us as the receiver to determine how much of what was said is reality, and further, how much of that reality is worth acting upon.
It stuck with me.
What is credible
Then you add in a principle like Ray Dalio’s believability weighted decision making, and you start to bring more objectivity to your perceptions, emotions, and reactions. More specifically, this takes into account credibility of the source and their track record before taking their input as 100% true.
Are you putting too much weight into the feedback of people who don’t have the experience or results to warrant so much of your mental real estate?
For me, this is where you start to regain your individuality over your decision making and actions rather than remaining subject to other’s opinions of you.
But then you read the stoics.
What do you think
And a stoic would quote someone like Marcus Aurelius:
It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
Most people I’ve come across, they weight feedback too heavily as truth. They overweight credibility of others. And they underweight their own beliefs while not exercising self-control over their mental reality.
On occasion, I’ve been a victim of my own psyche, but you have to ask yourself…
What is true? What is credible? And, what do you yourself think?
And for those who want a few more quotes from the stoics…
“The more we value things outside of our control, the less control we have.” - Epictetus
“Someone despises me. That’s their problem.” - Marcus Aurelius
“We suffer more in imagination than reality.” - Seneca
See you Monday.