#11 Question & Quote

Ep 11 Between the Ears Q&Q
Welcome, I'm Arnold Beekes and this is the question and quote version of the Between the Ears podcast. The goal is to enable you to unleash and use your uniqueness. The question.

What would you like to do, but you don't do because you are afraid of other people's opinions? I repeat. What would you like to do, but you don't do because you are afraid of other people's opinions? We are so driven by comparing ourselves with other people. And also like the group thinking, which is driving a lot of our behavior is like we don't want to be an exception in the group.

We want to be ordinary instead of extraordinary. We are stuck by the people who have a large influence on us. So it's family, friends, colleagues.

But on the other end, also by social media is like, hey, are people doing what I want to do? Or the so-called successful people is like, are they doing what I'm doing or not? But often that prevents us from reaching our potential. That prevents us from doing something which is really, really our calling. Is really something which we need to do.

But we are afraid to do because maybe people will think we are weird or crazy or stupid. Well, those are limitations which you allow yourself that other people put those expectations on you. Let me give two examples.

A few years ago when I started working, especially on brain fitness, which you could say is part of the mental health industry segment. From a marketing point of view, it's part of mental health. By the way, that's a wrong word.

I don't like that word because just like healthcare and mental health, well, these industries got nothing to do with health. They all got to do with illness. But anyway, I digress.

People were like, oh, what are you doing in this industry? Because it had a bad rep. Well, I still persisted. And fortunately or unfortunately, you could say for the individuals, because especially sports people like Osaka, the tennis player, like Hamilton, the Formula One guy, like Michael Phelps, the swimmer.

They all speak out about their mental illnesses and challenges and their brain sicknesses. So that helped me a lot. But when I started, that was not the case.

But I still persisted. Another example, someone I know very well, she was a lawyer at her own office and then she stopped with it. But she was very good at baking delicious cakes.

Really very good, really delicious. And I could tell she loved baking those cakes. So at some point in time, I said, why don't you start a business with these cakes? Because they're really great and you love doing it.

And her response was, no, no, no, I'm not doing that. I studied law. I put all my work into my education.

And then people look at me like I'm stupid, like I'm starting to become like a baker. That is an example of someone who let the opinion of other people prohibit her from doing something which she really loved and she was really good at. So I don't want that for you.

I want you to do something which, yes, which you would like to do, but you are not afraid of other people's opinions. Quote. People only want to retire if they don't like their work.

Why do I say this? Because many people, especially people from the midlife until the retirement age, and by the way, the retirement age all over the world. Well, it used to be for a long time, 65 years in the Western world. Now it's moving already.

It was 67. And I think it's vastly improving towards 70 years and maybe going because governments are pushing those data limits because it will save them a lot of money. And then people are like for the last, let's say, 10 years or so, it's like, yeah, yeah, I just have to work and then I'm going to retire.

And it looked like the retirement is paradise and everything's fine, which is not the case because most elderly diseases pop up before that time. So you're physically not able of doing these things. And if you stop working, if you stop working, that will impact your brain in a very, very negative way.

So it's only if you don't like your work that you want to retire. I can understand that. But my suggestion is that you start doing something else rather than just only watch TV and drink beer.

So people only want to retire if they don't like their work. Remember. We need your uniqueness.

Be a better maker for yourself, for others, for the world.