Listening to others' opinions can be great right!? Well not always… Find out why listening to others' opinions is setting you up for failure in life. If someone hasn’t achieved what you are setting out to do their opinion is just that - an opinion.

Gaining advice from others can be an invaluable stepping stone to getting where you want, however learning when to listen and who to listen to is a key component.

Have you ever told family and friends something new and exciting you want to do in the future only to hear reasons as to why you shouldn’t pursue it? Friends and family want you to be safe, secure, and normal.

If someone is giving you advice on an area but yet to achieve it tread carefully or just smile and nod :).

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Who to Listen to

While I don’t want to totally throw away your peer's opinions it’s important to know who to ask about certain areas. If you want to learn about business, speak to someone you know who has run a successful business for many years.

If you want to learn about travel and adventure, find someone who’s travelled the world and has seen epic places year after year.

If you want to improve your health greatly you’ll want to seek out someone who has achieved and done what you want to already.

This may seem like a simple solution but too many people are listening to unqualified personnel.

About how the business they want to launch won’t work because they have no experience, or a lack of resources, and money.

Pro Tip - Take advice from someone who is where you want to be.

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Set Your Own Limits

When someone tells you you can’t they’re speaking of THEIR limits - not yours. Just because a friend or colleague doesn’t think you will be able to do something doesn’t mean you should listen!

Limits are meant to be broken. The Olympics is a prime example. Tricks performed in sports like skiing and snowboarding now are mind-blowing compared to 4 or 8 years ago. The competitions continue to push the limits of the sport and it grows bigger and more technical year after year.

In order to accomplish anything you want in life, you must believe in yourself. Yes, you will doubt yourself from time to time. Yes, you will fail and fall flat on your face from time to time. But the most important thing of all is to believe in yourself.

You set your own limits in your life. Your opinion of yourself will set the standard of how you see yourself and what actions you take.

If you think you will never be able to do something you won’t be able to. If you don’t think big you’ll continue to get small results.

Set your own limits and don’t listen to the limits others are pushing on you.

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Why Failure is Important

The word failure has so much negativity surrounding it. People see it as only being bad and like you should have done better.

Without failure, you will never grow.

Failure is a key step to accomplishing anything new and exciting.

Failure is an important part of the growth in any aspect of your life. Rather than see it as something bad and that you never want to happen, see it as progress. If you can learn from your failures, grow, adapt, and make changes you will get what you want.

Average people tell you why you can’t and why failing is so bad, yet none of them have taken any risks and never failed.

If you don’t take any risks you won’t reap any rewards. Frankly, if you never take a risk to do something you want, you accept failure before you even try. This often leaves you filled with regret - the worst feeling of them all.

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Why Regret Sucks

Regret is a feeling often felt when you experience a loss or missed opportunity.

This could be something like a career move you wanted to make at some point in your life but never made the jump, spending time with family more often, working less, or chasing your dreams.

The thing with regret is that it continues to haunt you until the day you die. People often have regrets on their deathbed. They keep thinking about the missed opportunities that they wish they would have done.

If you listen to others' opinions that are holding you back you may regret the decision to listen to them forever. While there’s always still time to make a change and do something different, the longer you stay in your comfort zone the harder it will be to break out of it.

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Conclusion

If you want to do something - do it. Whether you fail or not it doesn’t make a difference.

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People who jump often get rewarded for their efforts over time. They have more fun and live life how it’s supposed to be lived. While getting advice from others around you can be helpful, it usually is holding you back.

If you want advice in a certain area, make sure to talk to someone in the place you want to be in.

Failure is a building block to learning and growing. Do what you want to do - follow your gut. If you don’t you may regret the decision for the rest of your life.

Now it’s time to figure out what you want in life - and set the right goals to get you there. Check out my free 5-day goal-setting email course here!

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Chris M Wilson