ideasarehere

December 15, 2009

To do what, exactly?

Filed under: general — Erik Dobberkau @ 09:10

No matter what the occasion, sooner or later you will run into someone who thinks he knows better.

Last time I noticed was on Derek Sivers’ web page, when he wrote why he gave his company to charity. Long story short, he set up a foundation to which he transferred the ownership of the business and then this foundation sold the company. By doing so, all the money from the transaction would go into the funds and not be taxed. The cause of this foundation is to sponsor music education when Derek has passed away.

Now there are people who think they know better: “You should have given your money to cause XY, I’ve been working in that field and it’s so much more important than music education… ” Matter of fact: There are thousands of good causes people could support. But for some reasons they choose to support the one(s) they identify with. And if there’s no one who does something you appreciate, who’s to stop you from starting your own? Especially when you are lucky enough to have heaps of money. Derek did not only want to give away what he had, but to something he values.

The thing is, giving unsolicited statements like “My [insert belongings, beliefs, or business] is better than yours” does not help anything, it does only worsen the relationship. Because in most cases, people did not care to frame the precise context of your opinion or decision. (And even worse, it implies a judgement. ) So if you’re not completely turned off by people acting as described above, the question to respond with is: To do what, exactly?

But when time is scarce and choice is abundant, no one will stop to ask this.  They just skip to the next. So if you’re about tho tell somebody about the advantages of your [whatever], be sure to know exactly what they want [whatever] to do for them.

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