The opinions that matter most are usually from people who’d eat dinner with you on a bad day.

Weight should track investment. A person who has sat with you when you were unbearable has information nobody else has, and something at stake in your life, which makes both their criticism and their praise worth more. A stranger’s take is cheap on both sides. Most people get the ratio backwards.

Make a list of three or four people whose read you will actually take seriously, then ask one of them something this month. Give the rest of the opinions the weight the relationship justifies.