If you’re reading this, some percentage of your behavior is run by assumptions you’re making. What’s an assumption? It’s an idea you’ve decided is true when in reality the verdict is still out. The interesting thing about assumptions is because we’ve decided on their truth, these assumptions guide our decision making with great power and they do so often needlessly.
As an example, if you assumed that speaking your mind would come with grave consequences, why would you? The result is you keep your mouth shut and deal with the potentially toxic, prohibitive consequences of doing so. Meanwhile, this untested assumption could be causing unnecessary harm, especially if you could speak your mind in this case and not suffer the assumed consequences.
Here’s an action step for you. I’d like you to consider what’s something in your life that would be helpful to find out was an assumption. What part of your life would it be extremely valuable to learn wasn’t true?
Once you find a possible assumption that’s holding you back, we’re going to do exactly what a scientist with a hypothesis would do. You’ll do an experiment to put this to the test.
Now, part of the reason you haven’t done this experiment already is that you’ve got great reasons not to do it. Remember the example above? No one in his/her right mind would risk “grave consequences”, especially for an experiment. So, your experiment must start to test your hypothesis, but with lower stakes. Design a test of your assumptions in a more controlled environment with less risk, deploy, and observe.
In the example above, one could choose a confidant to speak his/her mind to in private to observe their reaction. With the right context, I’d bet our subject would be surprised to find they could speak up (more than they assumed) without grave consequences. While this doesn’t erase the initial worry, it does begin to erode the seemingly unrelenting truth of it. The beauty of that is once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. This is how assumptions get exposed for what they really are in your mind and you can begin to make behavior change in areas that were impossible before.
Happy experimenting!
Logan Gelbrich
@functionalcoach
11/25/19 WOD
1-1-1-1-1-1
Seated Box Jumps
Complete 4 rounds for quality of:
12 Alt Barbell Lunges
200′ Reverse Sled Drag
Then, complete 2 rounds for time of:
800m Run
20 Toes-to-Bar
60 Squats