On Judging People

I know everybody says you shouldn’t judge people, but let’s be realistic; It’s what humans do. And if you ask me, that’s okay.

The stigma against judging other people comes from the all too common ambiguous difference between having a judgement and asserting that judgement. Judging people is bad when you use your judgement to make someone feel inferior — like calling someone stupid, or fat. But being able to make quick judgements of a person’s character and integrity are vitally important skills to anyone looking to spend their own time wisely.

Why? Because time is the most valuable resource. Some people assert that money is the most valuable resource, but the truth is that an individual’s financial status can (and commonly does) vary by quite a bit in a lifetime. Time, unlike money, is in absolute fixed supply and cannot be strategically produced. This is why an efficient use of time is, unlike money, not a question of how to make it, but how to spend it.

What’s more is that if we understand this simple paradigm, you can categorize people with amazing precision. I know that these days everybody is prancing around yapping about how labels are bad, but again: labels are only bad if you use them to hurt others. Categorizing people to help you spend your time more wisely is not a bad thing. When you face the facts, there are really just two groups of people:

  1. People who spend their time doing things others want them to do.
    • Demonstrates a lack of confidence, lack of motivation, and lack of self-worth. Quite unfortunately there are many, many people who have great ideas in this category, but they lack the ambition and drive to make good use of that creativity and intelligence.
  2. People who know what they want, and prioritize their life to achieve it.
    • These are the people who I aim to meet. They’re go-getters, motivated, and have a plan. They live without regrets because they go to sleep at night knowing that they spend their time doing what they valued.

For what it’s worth, this is why (good) employers will care more about your RSS subscriptions than your college degree. What you consider worth your time reading reveals a whole lot more about you than the university you attended.

Historically, I’ve tried to explain this to people and it’s always come out wrong. Lots of people hear the word “judge” and think I’m doing something (morally+ethically+societally) wrong. But really, is there anything wrong with wanting to associate with a certain type of person? Is it offensive if I respectfully choose to spend time with other people? Maybe I’m missing something, but it certainly doesn’t seem offensive to me — it seems like a personal right, honestly!

What do you think?

Just a quick note: you may have observed that while I am not posting every Sunday, I am posting once a week. Consider this the default assumption from this point forward.

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Published:
05.11.08 / 11pm
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