It’s not the most natural thing to let go of your favorite beliefs.
It’s not the most fun thing to say, hey I was totally and definitely wrong on this thing that I’ve been going on and on about. You know what, though?
Years ago I had made seven figures (in US dollars, no pesos) in a matter of weeks – just by admitting that I was completely on the wrong track. It was a finance thing back in the day, I had been working as part of a group of peers when one day I realized that we were all idiots.
So I brought it up. “Hey, we’re looking at this totally the wrong way.”
Those were truly smart guys we’re talking about. Genius level in their field. I know that empirically they had to see the hard facts. But then the weird thing happened, one that I’ve observed countless times since. They couldn’t see the obvious, despite me pointing right at it.
All the lower quality data that pointed against my logic, all the rumors and half-truths that we normally wouldn’t pay any attention to, now all of sudden was everyone’s reason to hang on to previous decisions. They had made some claims to the larger community and in some ways they would certainly have had egg on their face for changing their mind.
But what’s a day or two of a small handful of people remembering that you made an incorrect prediction, vs. admitting an error and getting to put literally millions of dollars in your own, personal pocket?
I was the only one who just conceded the error of our ways. The rest of the guys decided to split up and stick to the original plan.
And right now, today I’m still living very comfortably off that one moment of decision, many many years ago (well, not just that one moment, but it definitely set off a lot of other very beneficial opportunities for me). Why this story, now?
Yesterday felt like one of those moments, where admitting having been wrong, would be important.
Here’s what transpired: I had a chat with one of our new optometrist liaisons. Her family had owned a chain of optic shops in London for decades, and she’d been an optometrist for much of that time. We’re talking twenty plus years of practice, and business sense, and understanding the bigger picture.
You know what she told me?
She said, Jake. You have no enemies. Why make them now? (paraphrasing)
That hit pretty hard.
Apparently optometry isn’t out to get us. She says they’re happy to sell lenses. If they have a better way to sell lenses, then that’s just great. In fact despite all the mud slinging she had to get through to read the e-mail series and various blog articles, she was excited. Fix her own myopia, and that of her kids? Makes perfect sense!
The unique (and very lucky) combination of someone with no ego, a bit of a thick skin, business sense, and intellectual curiosity shed all the light in the world on the situation. I’d completely misread all the signs.
If optometrists see #endmyopia and it’s just another way to look at for myopia control, with the side benefit of more sales, there’s no perceived antagonism towards them. And as she says, they’re not out to get us. They picked optometry as a school subject, learned about career opportunities, took the courses to learn about various eye conditions as well as myopia symptom treatment. They found jobs at optic shops, or started their own businesses. That’s it, that’s all. Nobody was trying to make the world into unhappy myopes.
That’s pretty obviously, you say. You say, duh, Jake.
And … ok. You know what, I’m not married to any of my ideas. As long as I’m the idiot once in a while, I’m keeping it real. Not getting too old to change. Not surrounding myself with yes-men.
Of course it helps that she rather quite likes the premise of the method. A little flattery will get you everywhere.
Housekeeping obviousness: Look for lots and lots of rewriting of headline content, and e-mail series, and all the various places where I’ve been a little less than friendly about some people who didn’t really have anything against us. My bias, from the few outspoken trolls who over the years were antagonizing (and added to my assumptions that they’re all like that). I was looking for answers and what I found was narrow-minded and arrogant practitioners. That’s not where we’re at today.
And yes, even right now there is antagonistic BS in my e-mail from a couple of eye doctors – though at this point even that could just be a reaction to the site message format. Confirmation bias, echo chamber. I created a lot of that for sure. A bit of object fixation (if you’re a pilot, you know what I’m talking about).
Cheers,
-Jake
