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Article published on LinkedIn.com:
April 12, 2024
16_common_sense_120424.pdf
Common
Sense
Whatever your background, training, IQ, or experience,
common sense can be learned and applied to everyday
situations.
Smart people do not always do bright things;
sometimes-intelligent people can do confoundedly irrational
things, such as gambling away all their money on the stock
market or forgetting to take adequate clothing for a
back-country hike in the middle of very changeable weather.
And while it may seem provocative to suggest that people do
not use common sense, this deliberate association is merely to
highlight that everyone has lapses in common sense.
Furthermore, the more we are trained to think one way,
by our workplace, family, culture, etc., the greater the
chance we will allow sloppy or autopilot thinking to take the
place of common sense. Common sense is not a
one-stop-destination; it is a way of thinking that needs
constant nourishing.
Common sense is about exercising sound and prudent
judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or
facts. As to the purpose of common sense, it is basically
thinking that prevents you from making irrational mistakes or
decisions, a thinking approach that may open your eyes to the
possibility that insisting on being right prevents you from
seeing the bigger picture.
Common sense can also serve the purpose of keeping you
from being a stickler for rules, theories, ideas, and
guidelines that would hamper or stifle the best decision in a
particular situation. In other words, just because something
says so, or it has always been done that way, is not a good
reason to abandon common sense about present needs and changed
circumstances. Common sense is natural, but things can always
go wrong; just do not beat yourself up about the past too
much. Some things are inevitable.
Remember that good judgment requires that we ask
ourselves two fundamental questions before we act: ‘’What can
I say or do that will help me get what I want?’’ and ‘’What
impact will my actions have on others?’’
How does the brain work?
We are human; we are fallible. And our brains work in
certain ways as a means of providing shortcuts to ensure
survival in a world where being chased by predators could end
our lives. In a modern world where caves and saber-toothed
tigers are no longer constant companions, some of that
reactive, split-second judging can land us in hot water as we
react instead of reflecting, assume instead of teasing apart
the realities, and follow habit instead of challenging its
continued utility. Some of the things our amazing minds are
capable of doing to override common sense include:
Maintaining our own sense of reality out of proportion
with identifiable reality. While each of
us creates a reality out of our own experiences and makes
sense of our world through this ‘’personal lens’’, for the
most part, we understand that our sense of reality is only a
small portion of a much larger picture.
For some people, however, their sense of reality
becomes the only sense of reality, and they believe that they
can manipulate or magically transform situations to turn out
the way they want them to be. In such cases, steps irrational
behavior for some and insanity for the less fortunate.
Engaging in reflex or associative thinking. This is reactive thinking that is based simply on what we have learned
through life, reenacting learned models and applying them to
each new situation as it appears, without modifying the
thought processes being applied. This type of thinking leads
to errors in thinking because we refuse to push beyond
standard associations formed in our minds about how things
should be.
When we apply what we know to a present situation by
reference to a similar past situation by merely applying our
mind's template without adjusting for the context, we are
overriding common sense. Even where this template is a bad
fit, the insistent or biased mind just ignores the parts of
the template that do not fit by trimming them off mentally and
only seeing the parts that match.
Consequentially, we have our problem solved without
thinking it through. This type of thinking tends to make us
easily swayed by current popular theories and fads, such as
the fashionable tendency in some societies to control social
opinion through inflating fears of germs, criminals and
terrorists, and job unavailability.
Invoking absolute certainty. Absolutist black and white thinking about the world and others in it in
a way that never allows space for doubt is often a cause for
forgetting to apply common sense. For such a thinker, the "one
true way" is the only way and, therefore, seems like common
sense even though it is not.
Embracing pigheadedness.
An unwillingness to never be wrong, founded on any number of
reasons, including insecurities, fear, incomprehension, anger,
and fear of ridicule, pigheadedness is the cause of many an
irrational and unjustifiable decision or action.
What you see is what you have programmed your brain to
see. This is not an invitation to insanity. This is a request
to consider that your sense of reality is not real. And once
you start down the slippery slope of self-confirmation that
reality is only ever what you see it as, you are open to the
possibilities of bigotry, selfishness, intolerance, and
prejudice because you will constantly seek to make everyone
and everything else conform to your standard of reality and
your standard of what's right.
By dissociating yourself from this one-sided reality,
and learning as much as you can about how other people
perceive the world and our place in it; you begin to make room
for common sense to grow because your sense is built on
common experiences, not just your own.
Start by taking a look at your own emotions, beliefs,
and practices to make sure they are not overriding your common
sense. Test different scenarios in your mind to try and
ascertain the sensible consequences of applying the decision
or action the way you want to.
Is it practical, have you accounted for everything, and
what will happen if things go wrong? If things go wrong, can
you fix them, and if you can't, what will be the consequences?
If your reality is clouding your judgment too much, reach out
and discuss the situation with others to gain a wider
appreciation of their perspectives and ideas. This is most
important when you are too close to a situation and any
decision or action you take might be affected by our being too
closely involved.
Familiarize yourself with your reflective mind. This is
the part of your thinking where true common sense resides, the
part that takes a bit of time out from the cleverness, the
brightness, the importance of everything rushing at you at the
moment and suggests that it is time to add a dose of cold
water to the excitement.
Reflective intelligence is about being able to stand
back and view the bigger picture, so that you realistically
appraise the situation or environment directly around you
rather than end up forcing yourself to conform to its
suitability or practicing wishful thinking.
After an accurate appraisal of the situation, a
reflective mindset enables you to set goals that are
realistic, given the parameters you are working within, and to
take sensible actions toward meeting those goals. In other
words, just because other people do or use something
effectively is not a sign that it will suit you, too; you need
to put your own pensive mind to work on each situation to
decide whether it will be a fit for you, your lifestyle, and
those around you directly impacted by your decisions.
Recognize the previous step has just suggested that you
need to reflect more before you make decisions or act.
However, the obvious flip side to reflection is the reality
that some things need very fast thinking and swift decisions
that will produce sound results.
How do you marry rapid cognition to reflective thinking
under the rubric of common sense? It is simple; spend
your reflecting time intelligently, so that you will react
wisely when quick thinking is required. Common sense builds on
your reflecting on past experiences, enabling you to refine
your understanding of the world and how it works time and time
again. This contrasts with a person who only ever reacts on
gut reactions, biases, and has failed to reflect on prior
experiences.
Remember that engaging in reflection will bring about
sound "gut reactions" or fast assessments of situations
because your reaction is based on having taken the time to
work through errors and successes of past experiences.
How can I reason?
Reason is the mental powers and processes concerned with
forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences. Proper use of
reasoning is extremely important in making daily decisions.
We are all short-sighted, and we very often see only one side
of a matter, while failing to see the whole picture. We see
partially; we know in part, and therefore, we may draw
erroneous conclusions, inferences, and judgments from our
partial views. Narrow-mindedness is a great fault of reasoning
that everyone must strive to avoid.
Never imagine that you know all there is to know about any
subject and that there is no more truth to know. Seek the
truth earnestly. Dispel all prejudices from your mind. Do not
think that there is no truth except in the sciences you study.
If you prejudge another's notions before examining them, you
have not discovered the truth. Be eager to discover the truth
in subjects unfamiliar to you. Read widely and take an
interest in many different subjects.
You can always learn something from others, from parents,
siblings, friends, neighbors, ministers, etc. If you see
something someone else does well, learn from it by following
his example. If you see something he does poorly, learn from
that as well, by finding a way to improve, so as not to make
the mistake yourself.
Refuse to be offended easily but learn to view things from
other's perspectives. Some people hold so fast to their own
beliefs that they would not even consider they might be wrong
when others question the beliefs which they hold as infallible
or sacred.
No man is infallible. To suppose one is infallible is to
refuse reason. Therefore, accept criticisms with eagerness, as
convenient means to examine your own beliefs, ideas, and
views.
On the other hand, be humble, and dispel any biases or errors
you chance to uncover immediately, unreservedly, and
wholeheartedly. Note that this includes all subjects and areas
of your life, even in matters of religion or politics.
Remember that passion is a major bias that can make one blind
to the facts, and distort reason, insomuch as you become
incapable of using your own or listening to others' reason. To
reason appropriately, you must adopt a spirit of unbiased
disinterest. Learn to strike a balance between reason and
passion. There is a time for reason and a time for passion.
Let one not confound the other. Furthermore, seek out the best
books in every science, search the Internet for the most
reliable sources, and learn from the most knowledgeable people
on all subjects.
This 642-page book is the result of a four-year project called Project
Tomorrow. During the four-year period, we followed more than
500 trainees, aged from 16 to 72.
The trainees were from colleges and reinsertion
programs in administration and computer science. Some of the
trainees that were implicated where dropouts from school
districts, and others were new immigrants or unemployed
workers from different economic and social backgrounds.
To graduate, the trainee had to perform during a period
of three months in a business environment. At the end of that
time, an appreciation evaluation was performed to determine
both the amount of change the trainee experienced during the
period and the impact of that change on the trainee.
Many of the questions, reflections, and answers
presented in this book are issued from our findings during
this
period. We would like to thank all the trainees for
their efforts and determination during the process.
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This 642-page book is the result of a four-year project
called Project Tomorrow. During the four-year period,
we followed more than 500 trainees, aged from 16 to
72.
It is also the fruit of forty years of experience
acquired with local and international organizations
and companies and during consultancy, change
management, transition, and marketing services. For
more information go to:
www.webtechpublishing.com .
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About the Author
Decelles
Other publications:
ISO Pour Tous
– Le manuel
d’information ISO – Le guide de préparation ISO – La
gestion du changement en affaires – La gestion de
projet d’affaires – Le
changement POUR TOUS –
Change Your Future,
Now! – Mon succès est votre succès –
My Success Is Your Success.
Press Contact
Germain Decelles, o.s.j.
WebTech Management and Publishing Incorpored
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