Don’t hand your plan to people who’d benefit from it failing.

Advice is not neutral when the person giving it loses something if you succeed. They may not be lying either, since people genuinely believe the reasoning that protects their own position. Asking for input from somebody competing with you for the same place is asking for discouragement in a helpful tone. Who you tell matters as much as what you say.

Before you share the next plan, ask what this person gains if it works and what they gain if it does not. Take it to people whose life improves or stays the same either way.