This past year has been VERY interesting. Mainly because of the election.
There are two weeks left and the situation keeps getting more exciting.
Because of my interest in the election I spend a lot of time following what’s going on and listening to analysts and pundits. I spend probably an hour or two a day keeping up with what’s going on. I haven’t followed baseball, haven’t been following football, and even haven’t been keeping up with the latest happenings in my favorite sports – boxing and formula 1.
You might be doing the same.
Due to my interests and time spent listening to these other people, I have become part of their reality, while failing to bring more people into my reality.
I’ll admit that while fun, being a part of other peoples’ reality doesn’t do much to further your own personal and professional interests. It’s important to bring people into YOUR reality as well.
What is Reality
This is a complicated question without a real concrete answer.
What’s REALLY going on is going on.
We are all a part of consciousness, or a virtual reality program that we interpret. We are an organization of atoms, cells and molecules with a nervous system that allows us to interpret what’s going on around us.
Interpret.
We interpret what’s going on.
What we interpret isn’t really reality. We can’t possibly know everything or make an objective assessment of this everything.
What we can do is listen to other people and get thoughts and ideas from them to make them our own.
What happens is you get pulled into the thoughts, opinions and ideas of other people and occasionally make them your own. Especially if you don’t have a strong frame or schema of the subject you’re learning about or interested in.
This goes back to the learning process. When you’re growing up you learn things and make the things you learn part of your reality or schema. If you are only exposed to certain subjects, topics and view points, you will inevitably make them part of your schema. Only after being exposed to many different viewpoints, or having the courage to think outside the box can you amalgamate all these ideas into your own schema in an objective way, create a frame of the world, and bring others into your frame.
As you are reading this now, I’m bringing you into my frame of the world. My reality. You may or may not agree with everything I’m saying, but since you are reading this you are now exposed to viewpoints you weren’t previously exposed to.
I hope that as an adult with a comprehensive education you bring people into your reality more than other people bring you into theirs (especially in the office). This, of course, is an essential part of persuasion. Creating your own reality frame and bringing people into it. I’ve written about persuasion before on this blog and in my book and I urge you to read up on it. Become a student of persuasion and your life will inevitably improve.
We live in a culture of consumption. Most people consume far more than they produce. Insecurity, uncertainty, and the fact that we’re programmed to listen to authority causes us to consume more than we produce.
It’s easy to become part of someone else’s reality. Keep your reality balanced. Get people to listen and pay attention to you more than you pay attention to others.
Sure it’s good to learn from others, but others should learn from you too. Get people to pay attention to you and what you say. Tilt the field in your favor.
Create and solidify YOUR reality and bring people into it. Be firm and strong. Study and practice persuasion so you can further your own personal and professional interests.
Keep that in mind the next time you read and listen to what other so called “experts” say.
Remember that most people look to other people for opinions rather than creating their own. It’s easy to deflect responsibility. Most people simply aren’t that smart.
You are smart. Since you’re reading this blog I know you’re smart. You’re educated far more than other people and you have a good head on your shoulders. Use that intelligence to create a strong frame of your own and bring people into it.
