Assumptions lead to actions. If I believe something, I will act based on that belief.
Assumptions are frequently wrong, and almost always incomplete.
The reason that my assumptions are incomplete is because they are based on old information, not on what is in front of me. Conditions and circumstances change.
My assumptions are wrong for obvious reasons. I ain’t that smart that I know everything, and I have the human capacity for knowledge: selective memory, bias, laziness, etc.
The marker to look for is certainty. It’s even beyond that: watch for smugness, arrogance. I’m not capturing the emotional components well, but I hope you get the idea. It’s one thing to be right and know it. It’s another thing to be right (you think) and feel a superiority that dismisses alternative views.
The other marker to look for is inattention. If I’m so right, I don’t have to think about this and I can pay attention to something else.
Examples in the last 12 hours. Comical/sad/instructive.
- In the current competition we are scored based on completing tasks daily. One is planning your day the night before. 12 hours after raving in the midpoint review that I’m killing it and getting perfect scores every day, I forget to plan my next day the night before. I was blinded by the perception that I am Mr. Perfect and didn’t check at end of day to see if the plan was in place.
- Last night, running, I’m almost home: I’m about to turn the corner onto my street. In the dark I tripped on the uneven sidewalk and bang down I go. My head was elsewhere, and I wasn’t paying attention. I know the sidewalks in my city are shit (the fucking City Council wants to save the fucking whales, metaphorically speaking, instead of doing it’s fucking job), I’m paying attention usually, except now. So my assumption about reality is correct, I’m in familiar territory, and I make another assumption failure: to forget known truths. Actually I usually run in the street for precisely this reason: the streets are better-maintained than the sidewalks. Assumption that took me down: I’m already done with my run in my head.
How do I keep assumptions aligned with current reality?
This rumination kicked off with this excerpt from Meditations:
Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”
But we need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions as well. To eliminate the unnecessary actions that follow.
Meditations 4:24.
That’s a start. Prune away unnecessary assumptions: about myself, about everything around me.
Nota bene: I might have a damaging assumption in the above: the incompetence and malevolence of City governance. 😀 Maybe I should email the person who represents my district and ask for sidewalk repairs. Maybe the crews are just unaware of dangerously cracked and uplifted sidewalk locations. I can do that, or I can have rage in my heart. Hmmm. Hard choice. 😜
Postscript. And that notation above is exactly why I need to keep reading and writing. It’s a process that sometimes help self reveal self to self. After all, the persistent utter disdain in my head for politicians is only poisoning me.