How certain are you? "About what?" You may ask. I mean just in general. How certain of a person are you? How sure are you about yourself and the things in which you believe? Some people dwell a long time on a decision, agonizing over alternatives while others go unapologetically with their gut feelings. Which kind of person are you? Are you wishy washy or are you resolute? Hesitant or confident? Indecisive or certain?
I suggest to you that there is a better way to be--one that will make you happier with yourself and more effective with others. As a matter of fact, if there is one thing that will make you successful in life, it is the level of certainty with which you live. If you are sure of yourself and your beliefs, you will not experience 'buyer's remorse.' You won't regret your decisions upon making them. Also, if you have confidence in yourself, others will have confidence in you as well.
There is a book titled, 'On Being Certain,' in which the author--a neuroscientist named Robert Burton--attempts to argue that the notion of 'being certain' is a state of mind like 'anger' or 'excitement.' It isn't something we can control but rather something that happens to us. We experience the 'feeling of knowing' just like we experience other emotions. Being certain is not a choice we make but rather an emotional state thrust upon us by our environment. We hear pattering on the roof and we 'know' it's raining. We see a small animal cross the street and we 'know' it's a cat. It isn't a conscious choice but rather a gut reaction.
This is not the kind of certainty I am talking about. I am talking about certainty as a way of life--as an approach to decision-making. I am talking about going into the job interview truly assuming you will get the job. I am talking about sharing your faith with someone because you know it can change his life. I am talking about buying that new CD because you are firmly convinced that you will love the music. If you are indecisive, you will not get the job, you will not convince your friend, and you will not enjoy the music to its fullest extent. Acting on conviction in areas of life that warrant decisions is the only way to get the most out of life--from yourself and from others.
'But what if I'm wrong?' I can hear you asking. Well, the short answer is that there is no 'if.' YOU ARE WRONG--at least to some extent. You are never perfectly right. You are always learning new truths, growing in your knowledge, and adapting your behavior toward maturity. You will never be perfect for the job. You could always improve. Your faith isn't 100% correct. You will get new insights into your faith even after you have shared it. And, of course, the music you listen to can never give you a complete level of enjoyment. You can always love it more. So, in a sense, you are always wrong.
The better way to look at it, though, is that you are right until proven wrong. Living a life of certainty should not foster arrogance. You should always be willing to test your beliefs, discover new ideas, and strengthen your convictions. Actually, never look at it as if you were proven wrong but rather as if you were shown how to be more right. Sales author Grant Cardone has said, "I would rather commit to the wrong thing all the way than the right thing half way." The simple truth is that none of us really knows completely what the right thing is. So we all have a choice. We can either live with fear or live with faith. We can either spend our lives on the fence or leap the fence in pursuit of what our convictions drive us toward. We can either live indecisively or certainly. As for me, I want to be sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment