It’s said that the best thing to hear coming from a scientist’s lab is not “Yes, that’s what I thought would happen,” but rather, “That’s odd…”
I’ve realised that I love the moment of seeing that I am wrong.
Actually, that’s a lie! My ego, which still dominates a lot of my life, abhors it. Egos love being right. In particular – I’m right!
Why Do We Hate Being Wrong?
Is everything in your life going swimmingly? Are you perfectly content with every aspect of your life? No? Didn’t think so – very few of us are. So, by implication, there are aspects of your life – and how you perceive it – that are wrong. But the trouble is, you don’t know exactly what’s wrong, because if you did, you’d fix it.
And let’s not go down the illusions of, “If I only had X amount of money, then it’d all be good and I’d be happy,” or, “If I could just find the perfect husband, career, house, etc. then I’d be happy.” We know that these things are fallacies, despite being allured by them time and time again.
The Hidden Potential in Being Wrong
So, by implication, if everything in your life doesn’t feel right, good, or at peace, there must be something wrong. When you discover that you’ve been wrong about something, there’s this in-built potential that it could help to make sense of your imperfect-feeling life.
What if you’ve been proven wrong in terms of how you view the world, what you believe to be important, or even your deepest-held beliefs?
My invitation here is to remain open to being wrong.
Challenging Our Long-Held Beliefs
Perhaps it’s wrong to finish every mouthful of food, irrespective of the fact that you were, time and time again, told to do so as a kid.
Perhaps it’s wrong to continually strive to make more and more money, even though that’s what the people you compare yourself to or spend time with seem focused on.
Perhaps it’s wrong to work 9-5, Monday to Friday, despite that being what everyone else is doing and what’s considered ‘normal.’
Perhaps it’s wrong to pay two people the same amount because their titles are the same, even if one person delivers much more value than the other, irrespective of HR policy.
Hopefully, you get the idea.
The Big Question: What If You’re Wrong?
So, the question is: What beliefs or perspectives are you potentially wrong about? My encouragement is… it might be all of them. After all, even something as fundamental as gravity isn’t fully understood, so it’s possible that our current understanding of how it works isn’t entirely right.
Celebrate when you’re wrong!
Why I’m Writing About This (As a Coach)
Why, as a coach, am I writing about this?
Because it’s my job to find the questions that stop people in their tracks and make them say: “Oh, I never thought of it that way.”
Our minds do a great job of telling us that we already know, or that we have the (right) answer. But if that were true, we’d also have no problems…
How Being Wrong Leads to Breakthroughs
When working through a tough problem, such as a growth strategy for a business or product, it can often feel like there are no options available – that it’s dead or at best limited. However, you might be wrong. Be brave and invite others to look at it or help you re-examine the problem.
