Charlie Down the Block is not necessarily a man*, but is all people who you tell about a new idea, a new venture, a different way of doing things who ALWAYS knows better than you just what you should do at any given moment about just about anything. The Charlie’s of the world give advice whether or not they are asked for it. Inevitably this advice is negative. You are doing the wrong thing, that will never work and who do you think you are anyhow! We all have had this person in our lives. Sometimes they are a relative or well meaning friend. Just the same they can squash a good idea or business decision no matter what the facts are or how logical a move it seems.

When money is the subject, what do with it and how to use it, Charlie’s expertise grows proportional to your fears about money. You are especially prone to Charlie’s negative advice if you have ever made a mistake with money. This means most people over the age of 16 who have ever bought something they regret, lost money on an investment or loaned money to a friend who never paid them back or --- the list goes on. These mistakes plus the traditional should(s) about money give Charlie plenty of ammunition even if he doesn’t know a thing about money, your life or life plans.

Charlie likes to take control of your decision making process. He is expert at instilling fear. Symptoms of too much Charlie are as follows; second guessing yourself and/or stopping or hesitating to move forward even if it makes sense to you. Charlie(s) are everywhere so it makes sense take him out of the closet; admitting to yourself that sometimes Charlie even lives within you. The method for letting go of the internal Charlie is different than having a plan for dealing with the external Charlie. Handling the external Charlie might also quiet the inner Charlie voice.

One of the best ways to deal with Charlie Down the Block is to hold tight to precious new ideas, changes and plans like they were a newborn baby. There was a time when an infant was not taken out and exposed to other people’s germs until it was strong enough to resist infection. The analogy is that exposing your infant financial plans or business decision or idea to Charlie can give it the negative disease that he spreads.

One of the best ways to deal with Charlie Down the Block is to hold tight to precious new ideas, changes and plans like they were a newborn baby. There was a time when an infant was not taken out and exposed to other people’s germs until it was strong enough to resist infection. The analogy is that exposing your infant financial plans or business decision or idea to Charlie can give it the negative disease that he spreads.

Tips for handling Charlie;
1) keep new ideas close to you, guard their safety just the way you would an infant. Once exposed to Charlie
2) listen politely, but at a distance knowing it is just one person’s opinion.
3) sort out fact from negative fiction before decision how much of Charlie’s advice is reasonable for your situation
4) check in with your beliefs to make sure Charlie is just not just saying out loud what your internal negative Charlie is telling you.
 

*all reference to him/he in this article are the generic gender him