Nobody is interested in your opinion

Talking with a coworker named John last year he explained a principle of life that I was only dimly aware of previously:

"Nobody is interested in your opinion."

John is an intelligent guy that had previously worked in television news organizations for over twenty years.  He had a responsible management position and he was well informed.  He explained that he used to get into fascinating conversations and feel extremely motivated to generously share his opinion based on a good command of the facts, obvious intelligence, and much experience.  John was a nice guy, mild tempered, quiet, and not boastful, obnoxious, or loud.

Then he realized that despite the obvious advantages to the other parties to hear and understand what he was patiently explaining, no one was particularly interested in anything he said.  They were all motivated to make him understand what they were trying to say.  In most cases, their ill formed logic, misinformed facts, and obvious conclusions were just tired retreads of arguments he had heard many times before, but his thoughtful rebuttals went virtually unheard as he listened to the same parties repeat the same positions time and time again.

Finally he realized that it wasn't worth the effort to try and educate other people.  No one listened anyway. Why waste all that effort and emotional stress on an essentially losing game.  Better to just smile and say "Ok." and then listen quietly before  moving to another seat.

People are not interested in your opinion. People are only interested in their own opinions.  People want to educate you.  They already think they have all the answers.


This blog would be a good example.  I have written almost 400 articles.  At least 5 of them have insightful and original thoughts that most people would find useful, and yet I average less than ten views per article.  Why is this?  Who knows?  Maybe the entire body of work will present an amusing diversion for some lonely insomniac in the future?  In the meantime, I remind myself that:

"Nobody is interested in your opinion."

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer