Have you ever made a particular choice just because everyone around you seemed to support it?
This is the conventional way of thinking, most of us take this easy route. We think that the choices made by everyone is the right one. But just take notice of how many people are getting the results they want. How many people around us are living the life they have dreamt of. Maybe a few.
If we think like everyone else, we get the same results. By Newton’s third law, every choice you make has certain results. More importantly, people make choices from their level of knowledge and understanding.
There are a few things you can do starting today to shift your thinking, thus change the results.
1. Question Conventions
We have conventions everywhere, from kindergarten to a cemetery.
However, there is a problem with conventional beliefs: they are often wrong. Then why do we still follow them? One reason is that it is far more easier than using our brain. One way of saying it is that evolution has made us opt for choices that consume less energy. So we choose the easier path here.
Another reason is that, conventions were formed gradually due to circumstances, which might not be valid in our current situations.
“Question everything, even if it represents generations of conventional wisdom.”
– Robert Ringer
I always try to remember just one thing, conventions can be wrong. So, I try to think for myself in circumstances that doesn’t make sense to me.
That’all you have to do. Question conventions when it doesn’t make sense to you.
2. Think Like A Child
The most common trait among children is that they are insanely curious.
I remember the trouble I have caused by interrupting any conversation I was part of until my confusion was clarified. Children always have that wonder for all the things they see and experience.
I always thought about this difference between children and adults. I finally figured out an answer for myself. Maybe, that’s because everything they see and hear can be a completely new experience for them. This keeps their sense of wonder alive. But as adults, people might have experienced the instances of their daily lives more often. In case if they had a new experience, they tend to tag it to a similar one they have seen. If adults have to get that sense of wonder, they need to encounter a completely new experience, which they couldn’t anyway relate to any circumstances they have faced in their lives.
We as adults are good at focusing our attention on one specific thing. This is good in many ways to get the work done. But this can lead to misdirection. we tend to overlook the obvious steps, never questioning them.
Everything is new for children, they tend to look at any circumstance from a different angle. Nothing seems obvious to them, which helps them find flaws in the obvious steps.
Open your mind a bit more and see the wonder in everything you do.
In a way, think outside the box.
3. Data Over Emotions
More often than not, we tend to base our decisions on emotions rather than statistical data. This is what the media does to persuade us and support the ideas they propagate.
An incident can be portrayed in a multitude of ways, and various angles. Have you ever noticed the same incident portrayed oppositely in different channels and newspapers? The same news can evoke completely different emotions in a way that you might support or oppose the party involved. Our world is so complex, where it is extremely difficult to look at a matter from a single perspective.
The most sensible way to make a decision or analyze a piece of news is to look at it from a statistical point of view. Look at the data and think for yourself. This makes your decision unbiased and thus forming your own opinion on a subject.
In the book ‘Factfulness’ by Hans Rosling, the author demonstrates by the help of statistics that we have got completely wrong answers for the most simple questions about the world. Even the experts in certain fields like Nobel laureates got the most basic questions wrong. There are traps and flaws in our decision-making process. Being aware of this helps you to rethink about forming extreme opinions.
Always focus on data and make your decisions accordingly.
If you deliberately put these steps into action, your thinking process will improve exponentially.
There is a great chance that your decisions will be accurate than ever.
We all know that great decisions lead to extraordinary results.