Skepticism is a great strategy, not a virtue.

A healthy amount of skepticism can help you get perspective and see risks when presented with an idea, information, or someone you don’t know if you can trust yet. Suspicion becomes a problem when it prevents any new ideas from being considered or is used to re-enforce what you already know is right. Or, we accept everything we are told and can never see the truth.

So what happens when we don’t have a healthy set of skepticism in our lives? We can’t progress in life because we can’t change. We can’t trust other people, because they don’t have our best interest in mind. We can’t evaluate and adapt ideas to our lives in a way that lets us thrive and reach our full potential.

When I first got into personal development, I was young and overconfident. I used to think I could figure out everything on my own, and I didn’t need help. In any case, unless someone understood my situation and struggles, how could they help me anyway?

This idea persisted until I started burning out at my job. I was drowning in stress, overwhelm, anxiety, and fear. Something needed to change.

That’s when I found Brendon Burchard, some dude from the internet, talking about “high performance.” The ideas were new, and I was unsure if they could help me. Sometimes, though, when you are struggling, you are willing to try something to get real-world feedback. And it worked. I learned to be more reflective, to get more into my body. When I saw I could control my stress levels more, I started to understand I needed more help than I initially thought, and I had blindspots to dig through. It changed my life.

So how can we be skeptical and still grow? That’s why I compelled these five ideas to help see if an idea can help you.

Great growth advice will:

• Not Judge: Supports where you are in your life and doesn’t pass judgment on where you are. More concerned with where you want to go. 
• Help You Discover: Helps you learn something new about yourself, other people, or the world.
• Provider Perspective: Helps you see more opportunity and potential in yourself, others, and the world
• Go to shawnbuttner.com/coaching if you’d like a tailored plan to help you level up.
• Be Action-Based: Motivates you to take action more consistently.
• Raise Vision: Helps you get clear on your next steps, your path forward, who you are, and why you do what you do.