Growing bigger ears isn’t just about listening.

It’s also about NOT listening.

Not listening to the wrong kinds of people, that is.

After all, the word “bigger” also means “more mature.”

So, I did a fun little Google search and came up with (yet another) one of my lists:

100 People (not) to Listen To

1. Don’t listen to people who … have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.
2. Don’t listen to people who … try to destroy your dreams.
3. Don’t listen to people who … tell you what’s right or wrong.
4. Don’t listen to people who … tell you what to believe.
5. Don’t listen to people who … have nothing else to whine about.
6. Don’t listen to people who … think they know what you need.
7. Don’t listen to people who … say you’re making them look bad.
8. Don’t listen to people who … nastily try to induce insecurity in others.
9. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that you can’t make it in this business.
10. Don’t listen to people who … who’s imagination can’t encompass what it is that you want to do.
11. Don’t listen to people who … claim “their way” is “THE way.”
12. Don’t listen to people who … haven’t done anything themselves.
13. Don’t listen to people who … cannot prove that they have done what you are trying to do.
14. Don’t listen to people who … put a damper on your natural versatility.
15. Don’t listen to people who … give uneducated and bad reviews.
16. Don’t listen to people who … say that studying and learning isn’t cool.
17. Don’t listen to people who … aren’t qualified to advise you.
18. Don’t listen to people who … don’t listen to you.
19. Don’t listen to people who … don’t listen to themselves.
20. Don’t listen to people who … say, “You can’t do that, just get an education!”
21. Don’t listen to people who … say ALL (insert group of people) are like that.
22. Don’t listen to people who … tell you to change what you’re doing.
23. Don’t listen to people who … tell you the market is saturated.
24. Don’t listen to people who … think it’ll never work.
25. Don’t listen to people who … think you’re out of your mind.
26. Don’t listen to people who … say that manga is a useless hobby.
27. Don’t listen to people who … believe there are only two kinds of people in this world.
28. Don’t listen to people who … are telling you, aggressively, that everything is normal.
29. Don’t listen to people who … claim they’re “not” racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever.

(Remember, if you have to tell people you are, then you probably aren’t.)

30. Don’t listen to people who … put you down and try to force you into dead-end roles.
31. Don’t listen to people who … are overwhelmed with jealousy.
32. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that you have to buy a certain kind of suit.
33. Don’t listen to people who … haven’t been right about shit in years.
34. Don’t listen to people who … want to put you down because your passion and enthusiasm scares them.
35. Don’t listen to people who … say you should’ve bought a bigger one.
36. Don’t listen to people who … think they get paid to make your mind up for you.
37. Don’t listen to people who … state their opinion as if it were fact.
38. Don’t listen to people who … think you’re geeky because you ride a recumbent.
39. Don’t listen to people who … use their own personal values to censor other people.
40. Don’t listen to people who … say young people offer no hope for our future.
41. Don’t listen to people who … bare long term grudges on new companies.
42. Don’t listen to people who … say what you do is too strange or too eclectic.
43. Don’t listen to people who … criticize you no matter what you do.
44. Don’t listen to people who … require you to read a library before they’re willing to hear your thoughts.
45. Don’t listen to people who … are just after your money.
46. Don’t listen to people who … are just after your time.
47. Don’t listen to people who … are just after your brain (ahem, aliens).
48. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that you won’t make it in this field because it’s too competitive.
49. Don’t listen to people who … who stereotype your school.
50. Don’t listen to people who … try to stress you out.
51. Don’t listen to people who … have nothing but compliments for you.
52. Don’t listen to people who … have nothing but insults for you.
53. Don’t listen to people who … offer you “friendly advice” solely to make you feel insecure.
54. Don’t listen to people who … persuade you to install another piece of software that won’t do more than just occupy precious space in your hard drive.
55. Don’t listen to people who … ridicule, demean or spit venom.
56. Don’t listen to people who … tell you not to do something because they don’t think you are capable.
57. Don’t listen to people who … tell you what you can and can’t do with/to your body (unless it’s your Doctor)
58. Don’t listen to people who … instruct you which foods you can and can’t eat (unless it’s your Doctor)
59. Don’t listen to people who … say what you’re doing will be “too hard.”
60. Don’t listen to people who … say the signing of Hakeem Olajuwon was the reason for the Raptors’ downfall.
61. Don’t listen to people who … tell you “if you don’t go now, you’ll never go.”
62. Don’t listen to people who … scream at or insult others for a living.
63. Don’t listen to people who … don’t respect their customers.
64. Don’t listen to people who … seek to silence your conscience.
65. Don’t listen to people who … went somewhere once and think they know everything about it.
66. Don’t listen to people who … dismiss your work as uninteresting or unimportant.
67. Don’t listen to people who … tell you to stop singing so loud.
68. Don’t listen to people who … shovel smoke for a living.
69. Don’t listen to people who … lie.
70. Don’t listen to people who … say something sucks when THEY just don’t like it.
71. Don’t listen to people who … say there’s nothing you can do about it.
72. Don’t listen to people who … don’t think that “Afternoon Delight” is the greatest song ever.
73. Don’t listen to people who … claim that you ONLY have to work smart to be successful.
74. Don’t listen to people who … say it’s just dumb luck.
75. Don’t listen to people who … aren’t listening, they’re just waiting to talk.
76. Don’t listen to people who … answer with the lies they tell themselves.
77. Don’t listen to people who … say you can’t make money from fishing.
78. Don’t listen to people who … want to hide in the background.
79. Don’t listen to people who … try to steer your life.
80. Don’t listen to people who … tell you to pick up your rabbit by the ears.
81. Don’t listen to people who … try to pass the buck to others.
82. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that the Brunswick Total Inferno Bowling Ball is too much for you.
83. Don’t listen to people who … have so much anger and hate in them.
84. Don’t listen to people who … say you can get rich by putting a link on their site because of all the traffic they receive.
85. Don’t listen to people who … tell you how cool they are.
86. Don’t listen to people who … never worked in food service before.
87. Don’t listen to people who … say they studied for a weekend and passed.
88. Don’t listen to people whose … sole purpose in life is to stamp out your fire.
89. Don’t listen to people who … say that starving yourself is a good idea as long as it is done in a routine way.
90. Don’t listen to people who … mock you for trying.
91. Don’t listen to people who … can’t even get their basic facts straight.
92. Don’t listen to people who … want to lump the law on you again.
93. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that there is nothing wrong with you and that you have no reason to be depressed.
94. Don’t listen to people who … tell you that REAL filmmakers never zoom.
95. Don’t listen to people who … tell you this race is over.
96. Don’t listen to people who … say you’re too young.
97. Don’t listen to people who … baulk at making cheesecake in a pressure cooker.
98. Don’t listen to people who … only offer anecdotes of their own situation.
99. Don’t listen to people who … abuse.

And last but not least…

100. Don’t listen to people who … make absurdly long lists telling you what types of people (not) to listen to. Instead, make your own ☺

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What types of people do YOU (not) listen to?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Post your list here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

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