Society is stupid

Don't worry, I'm not angry or anything like that! :-)

But the heading above is the simplest and most direct way of expressing the idea that most of what you see, hear and read in society is really stupid. "Stupid" sounds a bit aggressive, so perhaps I should say "Society is intellectually naive."

Brian Tracy wrote that 80% of a person's success (how far he/she will go in life) is determined by his/her social environment. This makes sense: we tend to (unconsciously) adopt the standards of most people around us.

In fact, research has shown that when a person KNOWS a successful business person, the likelihood that he/she will launch a business is double that of people who do not know a business person.

So what is the success secret?

Ignore society. Ignore the opinion of the crowd. Ignore the news media.

Spend time with friends and family. Spend time reading good non-fiction books. Spend time discovering and developing your unique talent. Spend time practicing a principle or AT LEAST one of the 7 habits proposed by Stephen Covey!

For your convenience, I created the acronym PEPWEST to summarize those 7 habits:

1. Priority (clearly set priorities -- what is important to you, NOT what is urgent)
2. End in mind (start with the end in mind)
3. Proactive (if it's to be, it's up to me!)
4. Win-win
5. Empathy (seek first to undertand, then to be understood)
6. Synergy
7. Train and develop yourself