During a recent discussion with a friend, he asked me whether I thought he should seek an expert’s advice on a deal he was working on. I told him to be careful when it comes to listening to so-called experts, because all too often an expert is nothing more than a guy who can tell you all the reasons why what you’re trying to do won’t work. Personally, I prefer to discover for myself what I am or am not capable of accomplishing.

But that aside, no matter how knowledgeable a so-called expert is, he is not going to be as concerned about your life as you are. From your point of view, your life is the main event. Trust me, you are not the main event in the life of your attorney, your accountant, your marketing consultant, or any other expert.

By all means, listen to what they have to say, but be sure to weigh what you hear against all other available information. Above all, weigh it against your own reasoning power, commons sense, and gut instinct, then make your decisions accordingly.

Whenever you start to relapse into allowing yourself to be intimidated by experts, remember that Aristotle once insisted that the earth was the center of the universe and that seven planets — which he believed included the sun and the moon — revolved around it.

Hey, if you can’t trust Aristotle, who can you trust?