How to Get People to Care What You Think

For people to care what you think, you must have some ground rules. How many times have we tried to convince someone on certain course of action and feel like we’re talking to a brick wall?

I’m under no illusion that there’s a limited (but hopefully growing) group of people who care to hear what I think. John Maxwell says in his bestselling book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Maxwell calls it the Law of Connection. My blog has focused more on how people can lead better lives (how to create a personal mission statement, goal setting, budgeting, time management, focusing on living healthier, working with people with difficult personalities, etc.). The blog has been about how I’m trying to lead a better life. But there is the problem. It hasn’t been about what you wanted to hear about leading a better life.

This week I have battling what I wanted for this blog. I started the blog as a way to share who I am in hopes that people would learn from my experiences. I started the blog to help educate and serve people by giving them tools to make better decisions. I have some great readers who have posted some wonderful insights and thoughts into comments and I am extremely grateful for their continued support. Through this process I’ve learned that there are three things that must occur for people to care about what you think:

• You must have influence. This might be through some experience that you’ve had that gives you insight. They must trust you. The quote that comes to mind is “A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion.”

• You must also have an arm around their shoulder. Someone who doesn’t also want to see you succeed is useless.

• They must ask. An unsolicited opinion can ruin a relationship. Unless that person asks for your opinion, you should probably keep it to yourself.

I don’t know the direction this blog will take. To some extent it’s not up to me. My hope is that I’m fulfilling my mission to give visitors the tools to live better lives; however I’m going to apply these three things and see where that leads.