Final update on my For one week, I will not volunteer my opinion on ANYTHING unless I am EXPLICITLY asked for it." challenge.

VICTORIES:

"I believe in democracy and free speech and all that, but..."

Before I had even heard the rest, I had made up my mind to remain silent.

An argument arose concerning whether it was possible to "spam" e-mail your friends.

I stayed out of it.

RESULTS:

My ideal end-game for this week long challenge was delusional - I was hoping by the end of the week to be explicitly asked for my opinion on something.

It never happened.

I did get a "You've been awful quiet this week, Eric." But that's it.

And honestly, that's really good feedback to get. Because it means I had merely been noise. That those around me had not been waiting with baited breath for me to make my decrees. So what a waste of time to act like it.

I'm going to try to stick to this silence. And I'll let you know if this actually ends up increasing my respect/authority over time.

It reminds me of my grandfather. He wouldn't say much. But when he did, it was something that mattered.