Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Skepticism has a bad rap. In today’s world, with instantaneous information from everywhere, all the time, there is an absolute overload … and everyone chooses their filters and interpreters … or someone will shove theirs down your throat.

Why should anyone be OK with someone complaining about fact checking? Whether in a debate or in everyday life? It’s as if to say, I’m going to lie to your face and remove your ability to respond to that feeling in your gut that you’ve been lied to. Is the goal to inform, influence or confuse?

I’ve been inundated with requests for money recently. Fourth quarter push, hurricane impact, I got on someone’s mailing list after giving to a couple of charities I believe in. Habitat wanted my credit card info over the phone…nope. I’ll go online. St Jude wants your charitable contribution while sitting on $ Billions, with a “B”, in cash reserves. Nope…I have choices where to give.

Social media platforms have somehow justified that stealing your information is in your best interest. We fire up Artificial Intelligence outlets to ask questions that we quickly implement answers to without a second thought of where it came from. Did we stop caring about intellectual property or the implications of mega-scale idea theft?

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is and you should trust your gut. If multiple entities are vying for your money and will do whatever they can, legally or otherwise to separate you from your hard earned compensation, stand firm, ask questions, push back and freeze your credit. If you’ve been lulled into the idea that there is a get-rich-quick path or just do it because everybody else is or I deserve that because…come back to reality and understand hard work and dedication are the building blocks to success.

If I sound like a curmudgeon or a conspiracy theorist, I am not. I believe that a healthy dose of skepticism will lead to refined discretion and help you filter out more of the crap and bad actors. Grace for the rest.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric