Tag: criticism

  • I think you're intelligent and you're opinionated. You also like to make sure everyone knows it too, not just with your wide vocabulary but because of how you carry yourself. You like to stand out and you also refuse to be a part of "The Sheep Herd" and so you choose to do everything different. You always strive for perfection and you get very upset when things don't meet your standards. So when you struggle in life, you become frustrated and you start to reevaluate everything.

    Thank you for your candidness. There’s very few people, unless they’re trying to get the better of me, that offer such candid feedback. So I really appreciate it. I understand completely why you, and many others, would get such an impression of me, and I guess that’s been the struggle of my life. Getting people to understand where I’m coming from rather than what appears to be my motives. 

    I’m always surprised at comments about my use of language because like I said in previous posts, I don’t read that much. Most of the reading I do is online, and that’s usually articles of interests, blogs, or news items. 

    I am opinionated, but the motivation for being so is not as obvious as most may think. I actually hate being the centre of attention. It makes me awkward and self-conscious. But I love challenging people’s ideas and views because so few people take a critical view of themselves. We’re conditioned to believe that being critical is a negative thing, when in fact it’s the root of growth. In my opinion anyway. 🙂

    I don’t strive for perfection. I’m incredibly lazy to be honest. So in my laziness, and my idealism, I get easily frustrated when I see someone doing something in 10 steps when it can be done in 2. Simplistically, that is what drives my behaviour and my attitude. It’s my desire to simplify things, to avoid unnecessary effort, and to do more with less. When we complicate things, we waste energy and create issues that take up valuable time. 

    I know this all must sound so clichéd, but the truth is that I have got death on my mind most of the time. So when I see people exhausting themselves over things that may be inconsequential to the outcome of their lives, or to the legacy that they need to leave behind (not related to wealth), then I grow impatient with them because I want them to focus on what’s important instead. At least what I have found to be important based on my life’s experiences. 

    I don’t like exhaustive circular debates, so I choose my words carefully most of the time because while responding to questions or criticisms, my mind is automatically jumping two steps ahead in trying to pre-empt what my response may prompt. So I end up explaining myself two steps ahead just to prevent an unnecessary debate. It’s difficult to explain really, but I think it stems from my work in the legal space regarding drafting of contracts between organisations.

    I think it’s my exposure to dishonest people in the work place, and in life, and the bad after taste of dealing with them is what drives me to be so pedantic at times. It’s an arrogant desire to want to shut them up decisively so that they have no graceful exit from the conversation at all. But it takes a lot to push me to the point where I respond so callously towards someone. 

    So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t try to do anything differently, nor do I like to attract undue attention to myself. I just grow easily frustrated with people living unconsciously and I’m naive enough to believe that people in general are as driven as I am to improve the way they do things. So I volunteer my opinion or advice which is often misconstrued as arrogance. But I can’t help myself. 

  • On Opinions and A-holes

    Something I realised this morning, and this may seem like a retarded realisation because it’s so obvious, but I realised that opinions most often reflect the mentality and competence of the person offering it, rather than defining what is being critiqued. It’s obvious that an opinion is simply someone’s point of view about something or someone, but given how often people feel damaged because of the opinions of others, I suspect that like me, many know the truth about opinions but few realise it.

    It’s like knowing that if you touch a hot coal, you’ll burn. But realising how painful that burn is only happens when you actually touch it. Same with opinions. Knowing that someone is an ass-hole for offering an uninformed opinion is one thing, but unless you realise it, you’ll allow that uninformed opinion to negatively affect you. In some cases, it could also lead to you being unrealistically deluded about your supposed greatness if you focus on the positive opinions of others only. 

    Tumblr is opinion heaven! We have undiscovered sages, gurus, geniuses, professors, scholars, legends and so much more. And then we click on their ‘About’ page and we realise that they’re still in high school, or still trying to figure out what it means to live independent of their parents, or worse still, they’re trying to figure out if there’s a life beyond Tumblr! 

    This week I’ve been in a decidedly abrasive mood with many around me. I’ve dumped my considerate tone and disposition in favour of a more frank and in-your-face demeanour instead. It probably won’t last, but at times I think it’s needed because often people take advantage and become lazy to apply their minds if they know that I’m always willing to take the time to explain the same thing over and over again until they eventually get it. So I guess I’m just as opinionated as many others on here. The difference is, most people’s opinions of me are like water off a duck’s back. Like farting against thunder. Like crying in the rain. It has no impact because I have learnt to be very selective about who I take advice or opinions from.

    This has been an opinion by one that many may consider an ass-hole. Not that I care.