Thoughts on being wrong. From an expert at being wrong.

The biggest misconception of my life

The biggest misconception of my life was assuming that other people would want to know when something they said was incorrect.

I always thought I was doing them a favor.

But, in my experience, most people would rather go on being wrong than face the personal trauma of being confronted with new information that doesn’t align with their opinion—even when their opinion is incorrect.

It was easy for me to recognize this silliness when I was the one dispensing the correction because the receiver would surprise me by becoming uncomfortable or angry with me.

But what was harder for me to recognize was that I could be guilty of this silly behavior too!

When I was confronted with the reality that I was wrong, it could cause me perceived pain.

But I now realize it is the glorious pain of productive growth and development. It’s similar to the pain one feels when working out or lifting weights.

I’ve worked hard to try to change this perspective and behavior within myself, and I’m certainly not perfect.

But now I celebrate the frequent times that I discover I’ve been wrong, even when it causes me temporary pain and discomfort.

I must train and condition myself to love the pain and to celebrate it, just like fitness.

And much like it could be easy to hate the treadmill for causing me pain, it is easy to see the person exposing my ignorance as my enemy. But that is misguided and wrong.

My life is greatly improved when I shift my perspective and view them as my most loyal and loving friend because they are the ones invested in making me a better version of myself.

Thanks to all of my loyal, generous, and loving friends who were so committed to my improvement that they were willing to cause me a little temporary pain. ❤️

But there is a disclaimer: most people don’t want this. They would rather go on being wrong, just as they don’t want to be told they should work out. So you have to be careful to identify those people—otherwise, you’ll be seen as an arrogant jerk (guilty!).

So my goal is to find those people who want to improve, those who embrace the temporary pain as a necessary part of their lifelong pursuit of an unachievable perfection.

Because those are the people who truly understand that the journey is more important than the destination.

They realize the only goal is to be just a little bit smarter, a little bit stronger, a little bit better tomorrow than they are today.

*Remember: these are never lectures but reminders to myself.*