The Metaphysics of Business, Part 3: Don't make assumptions!

According to the book The Four Agreements, author Don Miguel Ruiz states, "The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth. We could swear they are real.... We make an assumption, we misunderstand, and we take it personally, and we end up creating a whole big drama for nothing." How true it is! We base our business decisions on assumptions all the time, and it is time we own up to this, because assumptions are not always correct. Wall Street and the entire banking environment is based on assumptions: How many times has there been a run on a company's stock because of a "tip," or a sell-out based on rumor? Panic is currently spreading throughout the land because assumptions are being made about the state of our economy. But may I remind us, not too long ago people in authority stated we were not in a recession. And so we were not, because we assumed they must know what they're talking about, right? Even when our intuition or our gut sense says otherwise, we base our decisions on assumptions anyway. So maybe it's time to examine the roots of assumptions more closely, so we may better know when we are basing our choices on them or not. 1. Assumptions are based on past experiences. We assume all sorts of things based on people's personalities, clothes, words, jobs, ethnicities, genders, etc, and what we need to realize is that our assumptions are all born of our experience. For instance, how a person is dressed, whether in designer suit or slouchy jeans, often tells a tale...of our own assumptions. I've met millionaires dressed in worn clothes, and hucksters dressed in two thousand dollar suits, yet how I initially thought of them was based on my experiences. According to your past experiences, do you tend to trust people in authority? In the 60's there was an incredible experiment  testing  how far people would go in thinking they were administering electric shocks to people if told to do so by a person acting as an authority. The results were no less than shocking: based on a participant's assumptions of authority, they administered increasingly stronger "shocks" to another person (actually an actor), even as the people cried out in pain or terror. (See the Milgram experiments, 1961). This was a dramatic example of assumptions gone bad, but consider: Wars were started based on assumptions. Opportunities were missed or taken advantage of based on assumptions. And all those assumptions were fed with the fuel of our experiences. 2. Assumptions are reactive and unconscious, so we often do not know we are making them. If we do not know we are making them, then we don't question them.  Assumptions do not have to make sense in order for us to believe they are true. As Don Miguel Ruiz suggests: "We have agreed that it is not safe to ask questions..."  If questions are asked, clarification may occur--but most of the time we assume without thinking and therefore do not think to ask. 3. Assumptions feed our beliefs and ideas, and those ideas and beliefs feed our assumptions. This is a closed circle from which there is no escape until we can actually step back and examine those very ideas and beliefs. From the Four Agreements: "We make assumptions that everyone sees life as we do. We assume others think the way we think, feel the way we feel, judge the way we judge, and abuse the way we abuse. This is the biggest assumption we make. And this is why we have a fear of being ourselves around others. Because we think everyone else will judge us, victimize us, abuse us, and blame us. ...That is the way the human mind works. Personal case study:  For years, I made a predominant assumption which has affected my life and my business for years, and it was this:  I assumed I had to find funding sources in someone else's business in order to fund my business dreams. I believed I could not possibly fund my dreams on my own. There were other people who knew more about making money, and if I found the right get-rich opportunity, only then will I be able to actually do what I want.  Just writing out this assumption gives me the shivers, because the lessons learned were fraught with a lot of pain and undue stress. My husband and I are smart, college educated people. We have much to share with the world: both of us are teachers and counselors, both of us have more than one book in us to impart our positive messages. And yet in the past dozen years we were roped into the following opportunities because of this flawed assumption:  We invested in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme where we lost our life savings. We invested time and money in an invention that could have had a major positive environmental impact on the world--only to discover that the inventor was a madman who brought people in and then would go mad and disappear. I put my time into several full time "jobs" where I was promised money for my hundreds of hours, only to find out the money wasn't there to pay me. Sadly, I could go on. Now, were there signs that any of these projects might be running amiss? Oh yes, there were plenty of red flags waving in my face as I proceeded along these paths to disaster. But I did not want to see them, because if the red flags were true, then I would be wrong about the original assumptions I made. And who wants to be wrong about anything? So I ignored the signs, and made up excuses to shore up my assumptions: In the Ponzi scheme: "But they are all such nice, spiritual people who want to help others!" In the madman's scheme: "But the invention is good, maybe I can reason with him." In the various jobs where I was not paid, the pattern was as follows:  Promises were made, I accepted them, promises were broken, and then remade with contracts, broken again, and then the people would declare bankruptcy and not have to pay me. Whew! This is painful to remember, but now I have a new belief I am trying out: I can make all the money I need to fund my dreams. That way, I do not have to wait until a ship captained by someone else comes in. I am the captain of my own ship, and I choose to pilot it to my success. I'll keep you posted. Listen, you and I will make assumptions, but we do not have to act on them. We can take a step back, regard a situation, and ask:  Am I making an assumption ( based on my experiences, beliefs, and ideas)? If so, how do I know it is a correct assumption? And most importantly: What do I need to ask to clarify what I am assuming? If we are to create a kinder, more prosperous world, let's strive to assume less, and ask more. The more questions we ask, and the more we listen to each other's answers, the better off we'll all be. And if that is an assumption, I can live with that. 2009-02-25T01:14:25Z

2009-02-26T05:31:59Z

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the-metaphysics-of-business-part-3-dont-make-assumptions

2009-02-26T05:29:46Z

We base our business decisions on assumptions about the people we work with, the opportunities presented us, even how we feel about money. Here's why not making assumptions frees us to be ourselves, and creates sustainable businesses.

The Metaphysics of Business, Part 3: Don't make assumptions!

2009-02-26T05:31:59Z