We all have an opinion, even YOU.

The past week I have seen so many different opinions arise from so many topics. Views on politics to money, finance, economics all the way through to parenting after a divorce and what way is best to grow a cactus.

It is killing my creativity. Although growing cactus is good fun, if not a somewhat slow pursuit of a pastime.

My cactus growing opinion is valid.

Let’s get back to other opinions.

Opinions coming from everywhere.

From the minute I wake up. Boom. My own and the residue from the night before surrounding me. It is a noisy world.

I should really trim my subscribed emails and cut down on the Sh*t that I read. It can get be a lot of work to garnish the best of the many opinions we all get stuffed with every day.

So my task this weekend is to trim my information load, it was always a regular task to do, but now I will do it with a renewed focus.

I will employ the criteria for eliminating or reducing the overload of professional opinion.

A person can only take so much of other peoples opinion.

I am deleting some of the sh*t, because, as I said, it is dumbing down my own creativity, and I need every last drop I have.

So much of the sh*t is opinion. Yes, much of it is based on informed fact but follow the money trail or the sponsored viewpoint, and you get the basis of many of the opinions.

People are selling stuff, supporting causes or driving their own agenda.

Remember this very statement, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

When it comes to opinions, that is the same. There is no such thing as a free opinion.

Every opinion comes attached to something.

It’s early morning. I am bombarded with opinions from every angle, all with something to solicit from me and my digital wallet.

All of this energy I have consumed even before I have started my day. I have to question that.

Is this a fair use of my energy, swallowing the opinion of others?

When I start my day, all I will get is other people’s opinions and everyone thinking they know better.

Thinking they know me. Thinking they own me. Thinking they know everything.

Thinking their opinion is the correct one…

Just like me.

Thinking I know everything, when I know f*cking diddly squat.

What I do have is an opinion.

Informed in some way, blank and obnoxious in another.

But I do have an opinion, and it’s mine. I have earned it, but how often do I change it or challenge it.

Not as often as I would like is my honest opinion. See, I have an opinion on everything.

That’s my point; I am another voice to add to the mix. I am another opinion.

We all are.

We are an amalgamation of everyone’s opinions, and we throw in some of our own to boot.

We grab and retain others’ opinions, believing them to be right or informed, and we use them to stack-up our own.

That is often our research. The opinions of others.

No questions asked, just a stack of gathered opinions.

This actually sounds like the Facebook or Twitter business model. How do we sell a stack of other peoples opinions and make billions?

In the end, the only opinion you should rely on is yours. Because that opinion will guide your actions, you ultimately want to do the right things for yourself and your close others.

You want to separate the wheat from the chaff and make the right calls.

But it is noisy, so very noisy.

So here is my way to tackle the rise in opinions and to reduce the noise.

Listen More. Talk less. The whole two ears and one mouth thing runs true. Deploy their use in equal amounts across the three parts.
Ask more questions. Understand the art of asking the open question as that will dig deep. You should dig deep.
Seek to understand viewpoints and what is the real discussion because often we are violently agreeing. Recognise when it happens.
Don’t be so dogmatic in your own pursuits. No-one likes a preacher except the religious, and their opinions are often solidified.
Look behind the words, see who is the true owner of the opinion, follow the money or the motive. Opinions are often bought, borrowed or stolen.
Discard regularly and ignore nothing because time is precious. It is all a juggling act. It is your time to spend, don’t be so willing to splash that cash.
Pause and think. Listen to yourself, believe in your ideas by employing the brain in your own internal conversations but ask yourself the questions you ask of others.
Reduce the fear of accepting the opinion of others and changing your own ideas. That is the sign of maturity. Change is the evolution of life and makes us stronger.
Know what you will not bend a knee for. Your own opinion is valid but not always king. But be that king only when you need to be.
Align your opinion in your head first as ‘blah blah blah’ is just that. Noise.
If all else fails, reduce the noise. Take a break from all of the intrusions into your daily routines. Technology can be switched off because it was someone’s opinion that it should have had an off switch. It was needed.