The Facts of Life
Are you stressed out about making a decision right now?
Whether that’s about the direction of your business, committing or ending a relationship, or even which outfit to wear (been there), we all struggle with determining if we’re making the right choice.
As a former math major, I was trained to make certain assumptions in order to find a solution. And I’ve continued to use that mode of thinking for general life and business management. But as the heap of good (and a few bad) decisions have piled up, I’m looking back and wondering if I made an assumption about some of my assumptions?
Assumptions, by definition, are “a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.” Without proof! I think that’s where we all fall down a little in our thinking. We mistake our assumptions for facts.
Just one look at today’s political climate is proof at how choosing our own facts (otherwise known as false assumptions) can be dangerous.
But how about for all of us Average Jo’s? Think about all of the times that you’ve made a decision or formed an opinion about someone or something based on assumptions. I’m sure you can also recall a few scenarios where those assumptions turned out to be incorrect.
Now don’t get all excited by reading on to find the solution. I have no friggin’ clue! But I think what we can all do a little better is recognize the difference. If we feel we’ve done our due diligence, collected as many facts as we can, trust our judgment and know that we don’t know it all, then that’s the best we can do.
And that means that as facts surface or change, opinions and decisions may too. Many of us tend to get caught up in our egos and positions which prevents us from evolving from our previous stance.
But I’m not totally knocking assumptions either. Unlike the old dad joke saying “Don’t assume...it makes an ass out of you and me.” (Hardy har har.), we need to make assumptions when facts are not available. But sometimes leaning on assumptions is easier than doing the fact finding work. Do the work!
As one of my all-wise, all-knowing Peloton instructors often says “it’s about progress, not perfection.” We’ll probably never have all the facts and we may make incorrect assumptions but you can bet your ass you’ll feel better about your decisions if you examine both more carefully.