Should you cancel their opinions if they don't support you? (My thoughts on Think and Grow Rich Chapter 8 - Decision)

If you haven’t yet, check out my review of “Think and Grow Rich” Chapter 8 (link here). Napoleon Hill talks about the importance of making a decision and outlines the dangers of procrastination. However, he then tells us to only talk to people who agree with us which is something I disagree with. In my Paid program, I talk about the dangers of “Group Think” and how to build a stellar team. If you’ve liked my work so far, you’ll really like those materials.

For today, let’s talk a little about opinions. Everyone has one. They’re very abundant. But how do you filter through good opinions and bad opinions? How do you ensure that you’re not being led astray? Not all opinions were created equal.

To start, we’re going to need to be very clear about the difference between an opinion and a fact. Too elementary for you. Good! But you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong. Facts are pieces of information whose truth can be verified in some way. Opinions are beliefs about the world.

Opinions may or may not be based on fact. However, they are not facts. They are ultimately an assertion that must make an extension beyond the facts that we know. So “Ice cream is cold” is a fact whereas, “Ice cream tastes good” is an opinion. Simple? Good. It should be.

So how do you determine whether an opinion is valid, useful, or helpful? And when do we throw it out? According to Napoleon Hill, you throw it out if it doesn’t have “COMPLETE SYMPATHY AND HARMONY WITH YOUR PURPOSE”. (Sorry for the caps).

There’s a major problem. What if your purpose is absolutely delusional? Then the opinions that could steer you the right way would be immediately ignored. We…have a problem here.

Here’s an alternative…

An opinion reflects your world view. Opinions are stronger when they are based on facts. So let’s use this 3 step method:

• identify the facts you use to form your opinion.

• Absorb all opinions that come to you whether they agree with you or not.

• Determine what facts were used for that opinion.

• If those facts are compelling enough for you to change your opinion, then change it.

• If not, you keep your opinion.

This is very different from Napoleon Hill’s process but I believe this is a superior one. A refined world view is one based on reality. And decisions based on reality will always be better than ones based on delusions. Or, at least, that’s just my opinion. Haha.

If you like to join me on a deep dive about which opinions to follow and why people procrastinate, check out my video on Think and Grow Rich Chapter 8 - Decisions here.