Play Your Cards Close To Your Chest
It's amazing to me how often people will try and connect puzzle pieces that don't create an accurate picture of your life. They see small fragments of how your life is shaping up and use their imagination to fill in the blanks. The privacy you place around your business will both annoy them and challenge their suspicions. Understanding how to maneuver around snooping individuals like these are mandatory to preserving your peace and focus.
This goes back to what I've written about trusting yourself. Don't be deterred nor swayed by the opinions of others when it comes to your affairs. It may seem as if these are overly cynical views on how people treat one another, but the important matter here is how to defend your purpose from being tainted by negative influences. You have to reinforce your convictions. I'm careful to never reveal the full extent of my future plans, if I'm even keen to tell anyone anything at all. I've noticed that it's better to inform through actions, not though words. Don't waste time trying to explain what you are going to do and how it's going to be done; it requires too much energy convincing people of your intentions. That's energy best spent actually doing, and allowing anyone interested to observe from the sidelines.
In this digital age, everyone wants to sprinkle glitter over their life and call it gold.
Part of not being dragged into the game of impressing people comes with holding your cards close to your chest, not laying them all out on the table for people to nitpick about what you've got. The advantages of keeping your plans and endeavors private outweigh the impulse of letting everyone in. The right people will know what you've done. The wrong people will stay guessing. I began to realize that the more of myself I gave away, the more I forgot my own purpose, my own goals and the timeline I set for completing them. What was once a solid plan turned into a Frankenstein project, with bits and pieces of everyone else's ideas mashed together to create a foreign, strange plan that I never crafted. I was living for others because I crazily believed they knew what was best for me. People I respected got me to change the flow of my thoughts, the river of my consciousness became filled with rocks that choked the stream of independent thought. I was reliant on outside voices when I should've trusted my own. So not only does keeping your endeavors private free you from undue criticism, but it preserves the purity of your decisiveness.
Avoid the mistake of having to balance your expectations with outside expectations.
I had to learn that it wasn't wise to give people a complete picture of my life or my decisions. I had to live for me, and according to the plans I had drawn up for myself. Not to mention that success is intimidating. Don't give anyone an opportunity to dissect your journey and reroute the path your destined to go down. Keep your cards tight against your chest and reveal them only at the moment you decide its right to. There should never be an element of pressure or hesitation tied to your decision to slap the cards down on the table. The bits and pieces of your life that you decide to show anyone should happen on your watch, not someone else's.
People are always going to be nosy, and mouthy on whatever decisions you make. Avoid the mistake of having to balance your expectations with outside expectations. The scale will always tip in favor of one side, and if you aren't careful, it won't be yours that gets the favor. The best way to ensure total control over your dreams and aspirations is to never expose them. They're yours to treasure, yours to realize and accomplish. Everyone else will see the fruits of your labor when the mission is complete. For now, put your head down, grind it out, and don't give anyone an opportunity to predict your moves.
