Please Shut Up

I'm borrowing this post title from a blog post/article that Jon Acuff wrote a few days ago on his website. Jon Acuff is the man behind "Stuff Christians Like" and is also part of the mega Dave Ramsey team. His recent post caught my eye because of how true it is and how a very specific and important part of it applies to myself. It shines the light on a part of me that I'm not all that crazy about. Sometimes you need to hear the harsh truth to have the guts to change something intrinsic about yourself. Sometimes you need to tell yourself to shut up. This is what Jon has to say (bold added by me):

When I worked for Bose, we didn’t ever talk about Sony.

Why?

Because we didn’t have to.

We were Bose. We didn’t need to denigrate Sony or any other competitor in the stereo or electronics industry in our advertising and marketing. We felt confident in our technology, our science and our people. We didn’t need to prove how bad somebody else was in a reverse attempt to prove how good we were.

But sometimes that lesson is easy to forget, especially with the Internet.

It’s so easy to trash talk about other people right now.

To write blog posts that tear down other authors. To tweet criticism of other companies or bloggers or dreamers that we feel aren’t nearly as good as we are.

But by doing so, you distract yourself from focusing on the things that matter more. You waste valuable time and energy in jealousy and envy. You get distracted and discouraged and in the process look small and petty.

You don’t need to slam another public speaker to prove you’re a better public speaker.

You don’t need to talk trash about another author’s book to prove you’re a great author.

You don’t need to compare yourself to someone bad as a way to feel good.

Prove you’re the best by being the best. Prove you’re the best by working the hardest. Prove you’re the best by hustling and giving and serving and refusing to quit no matter what anyone else is doing around you.

Be Bose.

And along the way,

Please shut up.

Trash talk is a waste of time, and you’re better than that.

Good advice, I think. For me, it means time to stop comparing my work to others and getting discouraged. Time to just do my own thing and be happy about it :)