Bowling: curve into the target
from Derek Sivers podcast
I’m pretty bad at bowling and frisbee. I roll the ball or throw the disc straight at the target, but away it curves. After this happens a few times, I adjust. I stop aiming straight since that’s not working. If it always curves to the left, I aim to the right. It feels wrong to aim away from the target. But it curves back to the center. It works. Same with thoughts. I try to think straight, but sometimes my thoughts lean to one side. When my mind is missing the target, I aim it the other direction, to compensate. I tend to blame others too much. Everything bad is someone else’s fault. So, to compensate, I assume absolutely everything is my fault. I tend to underestimate how much time a project will take. So, to compensate, I make my best prediction, then double it. I tend to assume I’m right. Then I noticed I was talking more than listening, and wasn’t learning. So, to compensate, I assume I know nothing and have a lot to learn. To be clear: The new thought is not meant to be correct. It’s a counter-balance, to correct for my tendencies. Like aiming the bowling ball or frisbee to the right, so that it curves back into the target. Another definition of the word “true” means straight and accurate. And the word “bias” means angled or curved. So we can choose beliefs that are not true because they’re useful to compensate for our bias.
Embed this episode
No transcript yet.