XXIII. Question Your Assumptions
We have to trust people so they can, in turn, trust us.
“First off, don’t let the force of the impression carry you away. Sat to it, ‘hold up a bit and let me see who you are and where you are from — let me put you to the test’…” — Epictetus
Someone says or does something we don’t like and, without thinking twice, we assume they’re disrespecting us. Or out to get us.
We then do or say an offensive thing in response and this starts a fight, which would have been avoided if we had magnanimous assumptions about why someone did what they did.
Biases make us emote and act on hunches.
These half-baked judgments ruin our day, break the trust in our relationships.
Or worse, we miss out on great opportunities because we fear what may happen to us, how failure might cost us.
Look. It's good to listen to our gut.
But to make a wise decision we must question assumptions and look for supportive or opposing facts so that the judgments and beliefs we act on are unshakeablely true.
We don't want to make the wrong guesses about peop…