I was reminded of this today – that most of the times I assume something, there is a good chance I am wrong!
I have been receiving emails from a friend for a while, and they always have exactly the same ‘typo’ on them every time. I’ve ignored it till now, but today I decided to inform him of his ‘mistake’ and whether he was aware of it – after all it might have been created by the autocorrect feature in his word processor!
To summarise, I discovered that he was aware of it. And not only was he aware, but that it was deliberate; he would wait for someone to comment on it, so he could direct them to an article which taught a powerful lesson! I got suckered in by it, to do exactly what he wanted me to do. And there I was thinking I was helping him, when all the while it wasn’t a typo anyway.
How often do you assume something, only to find out later that you were completely wrong in your assumption? It is a habit we all have, to assume that the thoughts that we have are true. In reality, we have no idea if they are really true or an incorrect assumption on our part.
It’s a good idea to ask the following question before proceeding with an assumption:
Is what I’m thinking really true?
Can I know 100% that it is true? Or is there a chance I am wrong?
If you cannot say with 100% certainty that your thinking is true, tread with care, or you might just end up with egg on your face!
Go on then, make success easier today!