What If Everything We Believe Is Wrong?

What if I told you that the sky actually is not blue?

…and a coin flip doesn’t give you a 50/50 chance?

…and you should break the golden rule?

…and you should not invest in a mutual fund to grow your 401(k)?

You might think I’m crazy…but I’m not. In fact, three out of those four statements are true.

The truths:

The sky is blue (this was the only statement I lied about…but what if it were green or red?)

A coin flip actually gives odds of 51/49 because of the physics of it flying through the air (read more).

The Golden Rule of treat others how you would want to be treated assumes that we all think, feel, and behave in the same way (obviously not true). Instead, we should probably treat everyone how he or she would like to be treated, taking into account who s/he is.

And the truth about mutual funds is that 96% of them do not beat the market average over a 15 year span. From 1993 to 2013 (a 20 year span), the S&P 500 produced an average annual return of 9.28%, while the average mutual fund investor made 2.54%. Then tack on the fact that the average mutual fund takes 3.17% in costs and fees. The point is: mutual funds are not good (Tony Robbins article about this — see #4).

This post isn’t about investing or science (I wrote about that last week).

It’s about questioning the most basic things we believe to be true, like that the sky is blue. You see, if we don’t stop to question the world and ourselves, then we are living our lives in the dark, blindly following the masses or, in the case of this video, monkeys.

5 monkeys video

…and it’s not that conforming is always bad or a bad way to live…it’s just unextraordinary, and I think most of you reading this want to (if you’re not already) lead extraordinary lives.

As Seth Godin said: “just because you’re winning a game doesn’t mean it’s a good game.”

Challenging our own beliefs takes effort, but it’s incredibly useful and necessary, particularly when we face disruptive change, and we have to adapt.

How do we do this? How do we question?

Start with this: what do you believe and why?

What are your personal strengths and weaknesses?

When do you conform?

Who tells you when you’re wrong?

When you’ve answered those, think about this:

Look at different aspects of the world, your environment, the people, organizations, and institutions around you — ask how they work and why they work the way they do? What are the forces and factors at play?

By doing this, I realized that one of my weaknesses is that I haven’t failed enough. I hold back from certain risky opportunities because I’ve, for far too long, considered myself to be someone that succeeds and doesn’t fail.

This was one discovery. Ultimately, the opportunities for discovery are limitless. It doesn’t just have to be asking yourself questions. It could be:

• Reading books or listening to podcasts that go against your beliefs or cover subject matter you’ve never explored.
• Participating in oral debates (doesn’t have to be about political issues) with people in your town or in online communities
• Talking with and listening to people you’ve never met before

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go see if I can find where the sky isn’t blue.

Questions to consider: all of them!

Image credit: Laura Coleman

Originally published at www.awesomeinitiative.org on August 4, 2015.

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