Before Listening To Other’s Advice Read This! Gaur Gopal Das

A vegetable vendor used a whiteboard with the words "Fresh vegetables sold here" to attract people to buy his vegetables. A man came up to him and said, "Simply by seeing, we can tell that your vegetables are so fresh. Why do you need to advertise them as fresh crop off the word fresh?" The vendor did so, leaving behind the words "Vegetables sold here" on the board. Another man came up and said, "We know you're selling vegetables, not fruits. Why don't you wipe out the word vegetables?" The vendor complied, left on the board now with two words: "Sold here." After a while, an elderly lady approached them and said, "If you're sitting in the market, you're not giving your veggies for free. I'll take off that 'sold.'" The vendor removed the "sold," and the whiteboard had only one word left: "Here." A school boy passing by teased the vegetable seller saying, "Everyone in the world knows you're sitting here, not there. Why the 'here'?" The vegetable seller raised the last word, making the whiteboard clean and empty. Another person came up and said, "Only a stupid man would keep such a nice whiteboard empty. Why don't you write something on it to advertise your vegetables?" Everybody around us has an opinion to make, everybody around us has a suggestion to offer, and most often with the best intentions. But if we end up listening to what everybody else has to say, we may forget to do what we are inspired to do, what we are meant to do. In the noise of others' suggestions and opinions, don't lose your voice. Take good advice but also learn the art of navigating through that advice to follow your own journey.