A short coaching-style talk by Dr. Aziz offering a concrete exercise to stop worrying about others' opinions. He recommends recognizing years spent people-pleasing, declaring a break from that pattern, and adopting a focused experiment he calls the “Year of Selfishness,” which he says transformed a client’s relationships, business, and health.
Here's a quick and powerful way to stop caring so much what other people think. First, focus on all the years that you've cared so much. Worrying. All the relationships that have been destroyed or become toxic. All that you've missed out on because you didn't want to upset people and offend people. All the suffering and anxiety that you caused yourself over, what, 10, 20, 30, 50 years of your life. And then launch into something else as you feel that. Say, enough of this, enough of this, and you want to shout it out with me right now. It's time for something new. I am more than this. I'm going to take new risks. I'm going to try new things. Effort to what people think. Here I go. And I did this with a client, and we dubbed it the Year of Selfishness. He'd been so worried about other people thinking, I don't be selfish. And I said, you know what? Why don't you just be selfish? And at first, we started with a month, and it went so well. It's now become a year of selfishness, and his life is radically transformed. He got into a new relationship. He's getting married. He's made changes in his business. His health is radically improved. I wonder what will happen for you.
