Doubt, the underrated trait
For some reason, I’ve always associated doubt with weakness and lack of courage. And I believe this association is shared by many of us, be it in the context of personal or professional life. Perhaps its a conditioning that I never even realized or perhaps its an assumption I’ve made but never once doubted. Whatever it was, I’ve come to a different conclusion lately. I now believe doubt is what’s made humans survive as a species on earth and what we should trigger more often for ourselves when making any decisions.
Think about all the major business missteps (think WeWork) or even the small day-to-day fights between colleagues, friends, or husbands and wives. I dare to say that they all stemmed from the lack of discipline in triggering doubt in opinions or views. If each decision maker or person had given time, perhaps a day (or in some cases even a minute), to actively seek out space for doubt on their opinions, to unearth and question their underlying assumptions, do you think they would have made the same decisions? Do you think they would as profusely guarded and fought for their opinions? Do you think there could have been a win-win middle ground found between arguing parties instead? I’m not quite sure. (PS did you notice my doubt? :))
Now, some of you may argue that the best thinkers and the most successful people we know got to where they are because of their deep commitment of their beliefs (think Jack Ma and his belief in the internet’s power to change the world and China’s e-commerce landscape). And your argument is indeed true. Without deep commitments to beliefs, it would be difficult for anyone to weather through difficulties faced in realizing those beliefs. However, what we often forget is the fact that even those with these deep commitments are willing to actively find doubts in their beliefs, even if only to find ways to learn from them. In the startup world, the result of doubt and learning from them is a business model pivot. And we can all agree that these pivots are a lot of the time, if not most of the time, necessary and even the secret sauce of success. Its simply impossible to get it right the first time around all the time. Further, the definition of “right” simply changes as time passes and contexts changes.
The point I’m making can be applied to any situation that involves decision making, which is basically just about any situation. Every invention or innovation that human kind has made, came from a curiosity that someone dug further into. This curiosity may come from a desperate need (like cavemen looking for warmth and came up with a way to create fire), but it fundamentally came about as a result of doubting their underlying assumption (in the fire making case, doubt over the assumption that there’s no way to ‘make’ fire). And this is how humankind survives and thrives.
How do we then balance conviction and doubt? I do not know the answer to this question, but for now I prefer to err on doubt more than conviction. To consciously re-evaluate my convictions and seek further or newer truth whenever possible. If not to achieve success, to at the very least create a sense of humility. Now that’s a trait I believe everyone can have more of.
