I cannot count the sweaters, scarves and baby blankets I have knit over the years, when in the process I made mistakes: dropped stitches, cast on extra, replaced purl with knit, to name a few. To undo the work meant unraveling yards of yarn. You are left with chaotic spools of wool that you have to gather and wrap into a ball, only to knit all over again. It is painstakingly laborious and demotivating. You do it anyway to create a good product. Others stare in disbelief, “You are doing what”?!
Granted, people do that with numerous projects across several domains. It takes fortitude. Stopping to examine one’s work, recognizing flaws in execution, undoing and redoing it is a highly daunting process. Stopping to observe one’s own thought process is a whole different ball game. To acknowledge that you might be engaged in faulty thinking, and then be willing to change it, is a monumental task.
- To unravel your beliefs is unnerving in itself.
- To unlearn what is second nature to you is an arduous, uphill climb.
- To rethink what is your truth is asking to climb Mt Everest.
In his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing what You Don’t Know, Adam Grant nudges us to do just that. Higher IQ and intellectual acumen might actually hold us back, as we hold our convictions with stout certainty. They are attached to us like sticky Velcro. These very highbrow views make us more vulnerable to confirmation bias which is a tendency to look for and recall information that confirms and supports our pre-set beliefs. It also makes us susceptible to desirability bias which is an inclination to respond in ways that would be favorable to others. This limits our thinking to narrow, partial perspectives. It could lead to stagnation and eventual failure. High intelligence may be an unexpected liability that restricts and boxes us in.
Grant says “Mental horse power doesn’t guarantee mental dexterity…..Being good at thinking can make you worse at rethinking.”
In today’s rapidly shifting world, it is imperative to cultivate and develop cognitive agility. We want to learn to be open, impartial, and flexible. The call to rethink is not to abandon one’s values, principles and ideas. It is to pause, step back and evaluate how relevant they are in the present moment. Are they applicable today as they were yesterday? What about me, my circumstances, or my environment has changed? Do I still uphold the same ideals and goals? The purpose of thinking is not to affirm our beliefs but to grow and evolve our beliefs.
This is a vibrant wake up call to lean into our intellectual curiosity, genuine interest, and openness to the new and the unknown. He exhorts us to become scientists. He encourages us to stay detached from our beliefs, not allowing our ideas to become our identity. We get mired in proving ourselves right, instead we could shift the focus to improving ourselves. It is a tall order to develop intellectual humility. It is acknowledging what we don’t know.
Rethinking cycle: humility → doubt → curiosity → discovery → humility
“We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones.” Well, that certainly makes you sit upright and take notice. It is motivating to cultivate a robust and supple thought process that is as strong and flexible as healthy bones.
“If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom”, Adam Grant.