My life seems to be plagued with "What you want to do is..." insert someone else's idea of success here. I have to confess when I hear those 6 words my eyes glaze over, I begin to examine my own thoughts and stop listening to the speaker. The speaker who is telling me what I "want" to do. Often the speaker knows little about me, often they are giving me their opinion on what they think I should do regarding my business. A business they are not a part of, in an industry they are not a part of.
A woman has never said that sentence to me (unless they were explaining how to use a computer program to me in which case I consider it perfectly acceptable) and a woman has rarely said to me "You don't want to do that" whilst I often hear this from men.
Even men I am close to use these words. An example that springs to mind is when I shaved part of my head (which happens regularly) my grandfather told me that I didn't want to do that again and that I had "spoilt myself" because I looked so nice before... With my normal shoulder-length hair. I was upset that my grandfather considered me to be less acceptable in some way with a hairstyle I preferred.
I have been told recently several times that "what I want to do" is to get on Amazon because that's where the real money is. No one has considered the fact that I can't make enough stock fast enough to compete in that market. Maybe in ten years time but certainly not in the near future.
The main reason I am offended by this choice of words is that people presume to know what it is that I want. When in fact they just want to tell me what they think I should do. They give me their opinion in the guise of helpful advice. It has never been requested and it probably never will be. The people I have actually asked for advice never used those words. Plus the people I have asked for advice are experts in their field and I usually a part of the same industry that I am.
So this was just a small rant about people giving me advice weather I want it or not.
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