What questions have you been asking in your life lately? Have any of those related to the people or narratives you’re listening to in your life? We’ve spent the past few weeks in dialogue around the idea of and our beliefs about success. The older I get and the more I move forward, the greater weight I’ve assigned to the decisions I’m making regarding whom or what I listen to these days. I share much more about it in this recent video segment. In the meantime, here are the questions I’m inviting all of us to consider as we continue to move forward in 2021. I encourage you to set aside a good chunk of time to read through and respond to each this coming week or so.
Who has your ear? (aka Who are you listening to?) Why?
Who doesn’t have your ear? Why?
How do you decide who you listen to?
How do they help?
Are they causing harm?
Do they tell you the truth about themselves (both the good and the bad)?
Do they tell you the truth about you? If so, are you willing to hear and take in what they’re sharing? Are you willing to do something about what you learn?
What are their ideas about success?
Are you in alignment with what their idea(s) of success is in this life? Do they align with who you are, where you’re going, what you want to be true about you?
What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are you allowed to see/know both their strengths and weaknesses (or do they hide them from you)?
If you’re allowed to know their strengths and weaknesses, are you operating in light of those? Or, do you view them as “all good” or “all bad”? Do you allow yourself to live in the tension between what’s good and what’s bad about them?
Do their beliefs, thoughts, words, actions, and motives align with who they say they are? PLEASE NOTE: motives are tricky to discern because we’re often unaware of our own motives, let alone the motives of others. So we must be careful and operate in humility with one another in this capacity. But I do mention motives because they are the ultimate truth-tellers. I share more about this in the video. Motives will eventually come to light. They cannot remain hidden forever, but we must not be quick to judge.
Do they, through what they share and practice, help me? Are they practicing becoming better in their own lives? Do the beliefs and narratives they’re offering equal genuine help, transformation, etc?
It matters who you listen to and why you listen to them. When it comes to being successful in this life, those who have your ear have a substantial influence that truly affects you. Today is a great day to take inventory and make decisions about who will continue to influence you from here on out. And hey, if you want to take this even deeper, ask these questions about yourself—are you and I people who are worthy of having influence, having the ear, of others?