What if you're wrong?

(3 minute read) // (15 minute exploration)

Hello hello!

Heads up - I’m going to say this until it sticks:

I hope I’m finding you sat down, chilling somewhere, ready for some self-discovery.

I have 4 questions, a lesson, and a dare for you.

[4 QUESTIONS]

What are 10 fundamental things you know about yourself?

Finish the sentence ‘I am…. ’ 10x in a row and see what comes up. Don’t overthink it. Just write. And keep going until you have 10.

e.g. I am outgoing

How many of those statements are FACTS?

Fact; is a thing that is known or proved to be true. It could be verified by someone other than you.

How many of them are beliefs?

Belief; is a subjective attitude, that is accepted, considered to be true and held as an opinion. Your friends might argue against it.

What would it mean if you were wrong about those (the beliefs)?

[A LESSON]

Here’s the thing. We humans, desperately want to be right. So much so that we regularly sacrifice actually being human, for it.

Think about it - when was the last time you confidently stated your opinion on something, only to find out (or be told) you were wrong?

Now I pride myself on my open-mindedness, and ability to sit with disagreement and feedback, but even in those moments - I kinda want to die 🫠

You’re among friends here. This isn’t being said with judgment or shade.

It is what it is. We as a species just hate being wrong.

And I’m not surprised. There’s some evolutionary stuff going on there, but it’s also because it’s conditioned into us from an early age.

Think about school, the whole education system is built on the belief that there is a ‘right’ answer and a ‘wrong’ one. And too many ‘wrong’ answers lead to bad grades, and those bad grades apparently lead to a harder life…

So, very quickly, having the ‘right’ answer becomes the primary goal, and we carry that need into adulthood.

The issue is, when your self-worth is predicated on the need to be right all the time, life gets very boring very quickly.

And this also goes for what you believe about yourself.

We keep ourselves stuck in outdated stories about who we are, and what we can or can’t do - just to maintain that feeling of being right.

And I’m not saying this is always conscious, but how many times have you ruled yourself out from something, with a story about who you are.

“I’m not a good speaker”, “I never date the nice one”, “I’m not good with numbers” etc…

But what if you’re wrong?

What if you’re unknowingly pursuing a smaller life than the one you were destined for, just so you can stay right about yourself?

How much joy, adventure, pride, knowledge and growth are you missing out on?

[A DARE]

I dare you… to prove yourself wrong.

This week/month - I want you to take one of the beliefs you identified above and do everything in your power to prove that it’s no longer true.

I did it with running. After years of telling myself I was unfit and inconsistent, I took it upon myself to run a half marathon. Now you don’t have to be that intense. It could be something as simple as disproving the belief that ‘you’re always late’ by ensuring you turn up to every scheduled plan this week either early or on time.

Make your clocks 5 minutes earlier, or save the meeting time 10 minutes before it’s meant to be…

We keep ourselves trapped in stories that don’t serve us, because the familiar feels safe. We’d rather know we can’t than sit in the discomfort of ‘what if’ we can.

And is that really the life you want to lead, a safe and familiar one?

Swallow your pride. Prove some things wrong. And trade in that feeling of familiarity, for one of freedom!

*yep, there’s some tough love in this one *

See you on a Sunday.

L