Not Read Comments? I Never Considered That!

Reading about Reading about Myself–is it the ultimate dedication to self-absorption or is my motive about you?

I once told my late friend that when I was on my way to his place I noticed a city bus was stopping for me at the precise moment I decided I should hop on a bus. The driver must have noticed me walking. But no–it was stopping at a red light. He found it endlessly amusing that my #1 way of interpreting my surroundings was me-related. Of course my first thought was that mass transportation was in touch with my needs and wants, and it took re-evaluation to see things as non-me related. He would have loved my absorption in an article about the difficulty of letting go of negative comments. Specifically, the comments one finds online where everyone is a critic, not just qualified people with special appointments like the famous late film critics Siskel and Ebert. I thought I had to honor every comment to better tailor my work to what the readers want. But no! Here’s an interesting point that never would have occurred to me. Resist the urge to read what people are saying about me, to me:

 if you do any public-facing work, don’t read people’s comments. The internet is a particularly fertile source of snark. Just because people want to write negative things doesn’t mean you need to read them Not only will it make you happier, but it will make you more productive as well.

Fast Company, April 29, 2020

When I encounter ideas that are foreign to me, and really good, I want to share them with you immediately so I don’t forget. A beneficial solution might be waiting for you in the words of someone else’s genius. I am grateful to you for taking your time to read my writing, it is the least I can do to present you with a life hack of a different color, beyond the limited idea palette of my mind.