Member-only story
Stop People Pleasing By Treating It As A Distraction To Your Goals
Start viewing it as anti-productive instead of a character trait
All through my teens and early twenties, I was a people pleaser.
I was brought up in a non-confrontational culture that clashed with my straight-forward personality.
What I realised is that trying to please others takes energy. And we all know that energy is precious and limited. We surely do not want to waste it when we have goals at stake.
I stopped caring what people think a long time ago and the benefits have been immeasurable: for my mental health, physical health and financial health.
The anecdote
Recently I posted on Linked-In about the Will Smith debacle. I said debating about this incident is futile and taking attention away from your goals.
Somebody disagreed vehemently and wrote a long paragraph on why it matters and we should care. I did not respond.
Somebody else agreed. I did nothing. Then somebody else contradicted them. They started discussing among themselves. I never reacted and the post is now lost in the annals of the algorithm.
