Everybody's Watching You
You're the most important. Everybody cares about you mispronouncing that word. You'll never live it down.
What would you do if nobody was watching… ever?
If nobody were watching, how would you spend your time? What goals would you have? Whose approval would you stop chasing?
If you’re like me, your answers are different from what you’re doing today. It’s a story as old as time. I let the people I am around influence how I spend my time and how I act. And at the same time I influence the people around me.
“Man’s ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he was born. And what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy — that he live in accordance with his own nature. Yet this is turned into something difficult by the madness that is universal among men; we push one another into vices. And how can people be called back to spiritual well-being when no one is trying to hold them back and the crowd is urging them on?” (Seneca's Letters to Lucilius, Letter XLI,)
How often do I think about the effect I have on others and others have on me? Very rarely.
Do I take time before each interaction to ask myself what kind of influence I want to have on the person I’m speaking to? Not really, but maybe I should.
“Noah isn’t that kind of messed up? Why are you manipulating the people around you?” you might say. To that I’d say “and you do it too.”
There’s no way around it. We’re social creatures. We influence and get influenced. If that doesn’t sit well with you, here’s my advice, control your own influence.
If you ignore it, you’re liable to have an influence on others that you’re not proud of. If you master it, you can choose exactly how you influence others. Turn it into a force for good.
And back on the topic of imagining a life where nobody is watching, I have a surprise for you. Nobody is watching. Nobody watches your life even 1/100000000000 as much as they watch their own. How much of your own day is spent watching the lives of the people around you? Pretty much 0.1%. So why would anybody else watch your life with any more attention?
Nobody’s watching. Do you. And in case they are watching, be good.
Question of The Day
What would you do differently if nobody was watching? Why are you not doing that now?
Your Biggest Fan,
Noah “BigNerd” Sochaczevski