Why Making Assumptions Is Dangerous And How To Challenge Them

What comes to your mind when you hear your boss say “Come to my office tomorrow morning when you come in” or your mom left a voice message “Call me when you get home, I need to talk to you”?

Do you experience heart-pounding fear when your boss asks “How did you come up with these numbers in your report”?

You are not alone being someone always makes the worst assumptions.

Your defensiveness kicks in dealing with uncertainty. Especially for many of us that had an unpleasant experience in the past, assuming the worst scenario immediately creates a distance from the uncertain scenario. In the absence of complete information, you fill in the blanks yourself to ease your anxiety and get the control back in your hand and shelter yourself in the blanket of your interpretations.

Except that when you interpret, your assumptions come from past experiences that have no relations to reality. You are taking cues from the worst fear in your memories instead of simply asking for the information you need. Jumping to the conclusions is easy for someone who has higher tendencies to avoid further communication with others. The habit reinforces the victim mindset that keeps feed yourself negative self-talk.

To overcome the habit of making an assumption, you need to take a moment and reflect the below 3 Es.

Evidence

Do you have enough direct evidence to form your conclusion?

Emotions

Are you forming emotions based on unnecessary worries and fear?

Expectations

People rarely share the same expectations from each other without communications. Are you clear on the mutual expectations?

If you aren’t sure what someone’s intentions or requests are, ask them then assume them.

Originally published at https://2minutesgrowth.com on January 17, 2021.