A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and I got to tell you I’m feeling a
little embarrassed
I’m feeling reminiscent but I’m also
feeling a little embarrassed and I’m
making a pledge to you that I’m going to
work on what I’m about to talk about so
I used to be in what a lot of people
call mastermind groups or online groups
that are private and that the members
used to be called executive clubs but
now they’re called mastermind groups
basically it’s a group of people to get
together either in person or online or a
combination of the two and they pull
together their business expertise in the
group that I was in it was storytelling
and on-camera presence when people
started using video podcasting things
that I knew and what I got from other
members were the things that they were
really good at and that included things
like email marketing and ad copywriting
and what else teaching using technology
like Google Adsense video editing coding
things like that
so the thing about the group that I was
in was it at one time or another there
were members of that group that are
internet famous people like Chris
Parrillo people like Jeff Walker and
people like Craig Newmark and if Craig
Newmark doesn’t ring a bell with you
then think about the fact that Craig who
is a billionaire is the Craig in
Craigslist so if you know if you’ve read
any articles about him if you know him
he’s one of the real early internet
pioneers I mean Craigslist continues
this day to look like it was a website
built in 1993 because it was and it
stays that way and it loads really fast
because it’s text only other than when
you get to the actual postings that
people put up so when we were both in
this mastermind together one of the
things that we used to do in the
mastermind is we had what were called
hot seats where somebody would say hey
I’ve got this thing that is a challenge
to me I love it if the the hive mind if
all the minds got together and we were
able to figure out a solution and other
times we would do hot seats where we
would say give us the one piece of
advice that you were given early on that
helped add to your success or kept you
from making a really critical errors and
I’ll never forget it was probably 2002
or 2003 when Craig said in one of our
mastermind meetings I learned very early
on that I was being a jerk and I wasn’t
very well-liked at work and my boss this
is before he became an entrepreneur my
boss took me aside and he said look
people don’t like you because you’re
constantly nitpicking at them you’re
constantly correcting them can I give
you a piece of advice
he said don’t correct people when it
matters little
and when he said that way back in 2002
or 2003 a light bulb went on for me
because that’s what I was doing all the
time I would somebody would say the
wrong word or they would mispronounce a
word or they would you know not have
their turn signal on when they made a
lane change any anything that I found
and and the embarrassing part is for a
while I really was watching myself and
making sure that I wasn’t doing that
and then I kind of fell back into my old
ways and you know I’ve been I’ve been in
a relationship with Betsy now for as we
do this video probably nine almost nine
years and she’s learned to make light of
when I can’t help myself and I say that
she goes you have a really big job don’t
you you know and so it’s a reminder that
it’s one of those things that I need to
work on I want everybody to look great I
want everybody to be successful but
sometimes correcting people especially
over stuff that really just doesn’t
matter at the moment can be looked at as
a real annoyance
and it reminded me that even when we try
to be our best and try to shave and hone
and refine and make things better do
more of what works in less of what
doesn’t sometimes it doesn’t stick even
though our best intentions are in place
and my commitment is that I’m going to
watch I’m going to be a little bit more
aware and watch for moments when I feel
that way like I want to correct somebody
I want to tell I want to tell the guy on
the news that’s not how that word is
pronounced I want to tell the guy on the
radio you’re wrong when you think about
that you know it doesn’t matter it
doesn’t matter and when it matters
little you can let it go and I would
think that people would find that a
little bit more palatable
then the me that wants to make sure
everything is perfect and wants to
correct people who are imperfect and so
I’m just making a commitment that I’m
going to do that from now on I’m going
to try my best to
a lose that habit and be hold myself
back when I feel like it’s important
that I let people know what the truth is
what the correct especially when it
matters little it doesn’t mean I’m not
going to correct people when I’m
coaching them because that’s what
they’re paying me to do but what it does
mean is I’m going to be a lot calmer I’m
going to be a lot easier to get along
with hopefully I’ll be better liked I’ll
be I’ll be a less caustic person I mean
I can only imagine the people that I’ve
corrected in the last 10 years or so and
what they must think and I don’t want
them to think ill so anyway it’s
something that I’m gonna work on and
maybe that resonates with you if it does
let me know in the comments below if
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for you I’m David H Lawrence xvii thank
you so much for watching and I will talk
to you tomorrow.