What might you be wrong about?
Challenge your convictions to make better judgments and decisions.
To make wiser judgments and decisions, regularly ask yourself a question that might feel uncomfortable:
🤔 What might I be wrong about?
This question is most useful for important choices. When we’re making a big decision, like starting a project or committing time and money, it helps protect us from mistakes caused by untested beliefs and assumptions. Strong confidence can hide risks and biases, and long-held beliefs can blind us to their weaknesses. This question helps us uncover them. Asking it strengthens our thinking before reality challenges it.
Asking alone is not enough. We need to dig into the answers. This means writing down beliefs and assumptions, seeking opposing views and missed data, or asking people with relevant knowledge where we might be wrong. Asking carefully makes it easier for others to speak honestly and openly, for example by saying, “If you had to bet against my idea, what would you say?”
Another approach is to imagine ourselves a year from now realizing we were wrong. What facts or warning signs would we wish we had noticed earlier? This exercise helps us spot where our reasoning might be most vulnerable.
Questioning our beliefs is like checking a car’s oil to prevent breakdowns or testing water temperature before diving in.
The power of this question comes from breaking our tendency to only look for evidence that supports what we already believe. It reminds us that our perspective has limits, and asking this question shows we’re willing to learn and get closer to the truth. We can treat reflecting on this question like a careful test, checking how strong and solid our beliefs and assumptions really are.
Start today by asking where you might be wrong and watch your judgments and decisions improve.