I didn’t have anything exciting to write about today (do I ever?), so I decided to “steal” a blog post from my friend Mehdi, of Stronglifts.com. Awhile back, Mehdi wrote on “How to Deal with The Wise-Guy.”
To sum up his thoughts, he wrote:
“Wise-guys are everywhere: work, family, relationships (”Wise-gal”), friends, gym, Internet, … They always know better than you, even if they don’t. And some believe their stuff so much, they can make you doubt what you do.”
This is never more apparent than in the confines of a gym. Every gym has its own version of a wise-guy. You know, the guy who walks around with his chest puffed out and arms way out to his side as if he were carrying his invisible water jugs (otherwise known as ILS, or Inflated Lat Syndrome), giving unsolicited advice to every person within an ear shot.
Or in the case of my sister, who when I was visiting a few months ago, had some guy wearing a head band and weighed maybe 130 lbs soaking wet, approach her while she was performing one-arm DB push presses just to show her a “better” alternative. His advice? “Try twisting the dumbbells at the top to get more of a peak contraction of the anterior deltoid.”
According to Mehdi, some of the proper ways to deal with said wise-guys are to:
* Stop Caring. Let it become noise. You hear it, but it doesn’t affect you anymore. Don’t think or know this, become it. How? By acting in ways that shows you don’t care. Eat differently at work, train differently at the gym. The more you do things differently in public, the less you’ll care.
* Agree. Life isn’t like school where you get points for giving the right answer. It doesn’t matter who is right. Agree. Or say you’re free to think differently. Or tell them that you might be wrong, that you’re often wrong about things. What they think doesn’t matter anyway.
* Ignore. Focus your time & efforts on the achievements of your goals. Again: it doesn’t matter what they say or think, so don’t waste time replying to/trying to win arguments.
* Be Confident. Wise-guys can believe what they say so much, even when wrong, that they can make you doubt yourself. Don’t rely on what people say. Do your own research. Read books.
All are undoubtedly superb suggestions, and my sister actually took the high road and chose to follow #3 on the list. Myself on the other hand, prefers a more proactive method. Like throwing a chainsaw at their face. You know, something subtle.
