Should

I don’t like the word “should.” I react poorly to it, because it’s indicative of some obligation that someone wants to place on me. It carries with it a sense of superiority, of knowing better.
Let’s assume I know what I want to do better than anyone else.
When people see what I do, they often make suggestions of what they think I should do based solely on their own hopes or expectations of me. With one word, they make their wish into a to-do list item for me.
If I seem dismissive of those kinds of suggestions, it’s because I am. I reject them out of hand because I have no shortage of things I want to do. I’d like to do those first, before I start considering what others want me to do.
That is, unless they want to pay me for the time I’d spend doing what they want. Then, I’m all ears.