Give it Five Minutes

Great advice from 37Signals’ Jason Fried:

There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.

Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve any work. You can scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. The hard thing to do is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start out life as the wrong idea.

So next time you hear something, or someone, talk about an idea, pitch an idea, or suggest an idea, give it five minutes. Think about it a little bit before pushing back, before saying it’s too hard or it’s too much work. Those things may be true, but there may be another truth in there too: It may be worth it.

Like Fried, too often, I’ve quickly jumped into a conversation to disagree. I’ve set out to prove my intelligence (or something) when, instead, I should have been listening, thinking, and asking questions.

Also like Fried, I’ve taken steps to stop doing this. It’s not easy, and I still fail frequently, but I’ve made progress that I’m proud of. I am better today than I was a year ago, and that’s really important to me.

So if you catch me acting like an asshole in a conversation, please call me out on it. I’ll thank you for it.