Pose a challenge to conventional wisdom
During the twentieth century, economist John Maynard Keynes expressed his belief that “the problem lay not so much in inventing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones.” His theories had a tremendous impact on economic theory and practice.
Going against popular opinion can be difficult, whether you’re a businessperson who wants to break with company tradition, a pastor who wants to introduce new types of music to his congregation, a new mother who wants to reject old wives’ tales passed down from her parents, or a teenager who wants to avoid the latest fashion trends.
Many of the concepts presented in this book are at odds with conventional wisdom. If you place a high value on popularity above sound reasoning, you will significantly restrict your ability to learn the forms of thinking that are recommended by this book and other books like it.
Most people believe that popular thinking is… too average to recognize the importance of good thinking, too rigid to recognize the impact of changed thinking, too lazy to master the process of intentional thinking, too small to see the wisdom of big-picture thinking, too satisfied to discover the joy of creative thinking, too naive to recognize the importance of realistic thinking, and too undisciplined to unleash the power of strategy.
Starting now, if you want to be a smart thinker, you need prepare yourself for the potential of becoming unpopular with others.
IN WHAT WAYS SHOULD YOU QUESTION THE ACCEPTANCE OF POPULAR CONCEPTS?
As I’ve shown before, there are a number of broad reasons to doubt the widespread adoption of popular thought. Now, please allow me to be a little more specific:
1. Popular thinking may sometimes be mistaken for non-thinking.
“The trouble with popular thinking is that it doesn’t need you to think at all,” says my buddy Kevin Myers, summarizing the concept of popular thinking: “It doesn’t require you to think at all.” Good thinking is a labor of love. If it were so simple, everyone would be an excellent thinker.
Unfortunately, many individuals strive to live their lives in the most convenient manner. They don’t want to put in the effort required to think critically or pay the price of achievement. It’s easy to just copy what other people are doing and trust that they have considered the consequences.
Check out some of the stock market suggestions made by industry specialists. By the time they announce their choices, the vast majority of them are following a trend rather than starting one or even riding the peak of one. By the time the general public learns about it, the individuals who are going to profit from the stocks they promote have already made their money from doing so. When individuals simply follow a trend, they aren’t using their own critical thinking abilities.
2. Popular thinking provides a false sense of hope
Benno Muller-Hill, a professor in the genetics department at the University of Cologne, recalls how he was the last student in a line of forty kids in the playground one morning while he was in high school. His physics instructor had put up a telescope so that his pupils could see a planet and its moons via the lens of the telescope. The first student approached the telescope and had a look through it.
While he gazed through it, when the instructor inquired as to whether he could see anything, the youngster said that he couldn’t because of his nearsightedness. As soon as the instructor demonstrated how to change the focus, the youngster said that he could see the planet and moons well. Individually, each pupil walked up to the telescope and saw exactly what they were expected to see. When the second-to-last student glanced through the telescope, he claimed that he couldn’t make out anything.
It was the instructor who yelled at the students, “You fool, you have to adjust the lenses.”
“I’m still not able to see anything,” the pupil admitted after many attempts. “It’s completely black.”
The instructor, displeased, glanced through the telescope himself and then looked up at the class with an odd expression on his face.. The telescope was still protected by the lens covering. None of the kids had been able to make out anything at all!
Many individuals strive for protection and security in popular thought because they believe it to be true. They reason that if a large number of people are doing something, it must be correct. It has to be a good concept, right? If the majority of people approve it, it is likely to symbolize justice, equality, compassion, and sensitivity, right?
Exactly. This is not always the case. Contrary to popular belief, Copernicus conducted extensive research into the stars and planets and was able to demonstrate mathematically that the earth and the other planets in our solar system circled around the sun. Although popular belief held that clean surgical equipment were not necessary, Joseph Lister investigated the high mortality rates in hospitals and instituted antiseptic methods that instantly saved lives.
Women were denied the right to vote because of popular belief, but activists such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Susan B. Anthony campaigned for and achieved that right. Despite the fact that Hitler’s dictatorship slaughtered millions of people and almost devastated Europe, popular opinion propelled the Nazis to power in Germany. We must constantly keep in mind that there is a significant gap between acceptance and intelligent behavior. Although many people believe that there is safety in numbers, this is not always the case.
The fact that popular thought does not always represent smart and correct thinking is painfully clear at times. At other instances, it is less obvious. To illustrate, consider the startling number of individuals in the United States who have accumulated significant sums of debt via the use of their credit cards.
Anyone with a sense of financial responsibility would tell you that’s a terrible idea. Despite this, millions of people adhere to the popular purchasing philosophy of “buy now, pay later.” As a result, they pay, pay, and pay some more. Many of the promises made by popular thinking have shown to be false. Don’t be fooled by what they say.
3. The general public’s willingness to accept change is slow to develop.
The status quo is cherished by the majority of people. It places its trust in the notion of the moment and fights to keep it with all it has. As a result, it is resistant to change and inhibits the development of new ideas.
“We must renounce the concept that previous routine, past methods of doing things, are probably the best ways,” Donald M. Nelson, former president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, said in a statement.
On the contrary, we must make the assumption that there is virtually always a better method to do practically every task. We must stop presuming that anything that has never been done before is impossible to do at all.”
4. The results of popular thinking are only mediocre at best.
What’s the bottom line? The popular way of thinking produces poor outcomes. In a nutshell, this is the prevalent way of thinking:
Popularity equals normalcy equals averagecy
It’s both the worst of the worst and the finest of the worst in terms of quality. When we accept common ways of thinking, we put ourselves at a disadvantage. It signifies putting in the least amount of effort in order to just get by. If you want to achieve extraordinary achievements, you must challenge conventional thinking.
HOW TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE ACCEPTANCE OF POPULAR WAYS OF BEING
Popular thinking has often been shown to be incorrect and restricting. Once you get into the habit of questioning everything, it isn’t that difficult to continue doing so. Getting started is the most difficult part. Begin by carrying out the following actions:
If you adopt unconventional thinking and make judgments based on what works best and what is correct rather than what is popularly accepted, know that you will not be as wrong as many believe you will be in your early years. In your latter years, you will not be as correct as others believe you to be. And you will continue to improve over the years, much beyond your expectations.
