How Do You React When You Are Wrong?

Posted on 31 January 2008

If you are a regular reader here you’ll know that my website underwent a complete overhaul earlier this month. It was looking old and tired, a bit like myself really, and it was necessary to make some brutal changes. I had a lot of positive feedback about the old site and I have to admit my first look at the new one didn’t have me punching the air in delight. I had grown used to the format and look of the home page and that cute little turtle always made me smile even though I lost any idea of the little guys relevance to life coaching some time ago.

When my web guy first sent me the Photoshop mock up of the home page I was lukewarm. I left it for a while and then had another look an hour or so later and thought it was better than I initially thought. An hour later and I was much happier, and by the end of the day I loved it. Now I can’t quite believe I ever thought otherwise. Such is the nature of change.

Has any of the following ever happened to you:

You heard a record on the radio – hated it and then a few listens later – loved it.
Met somebody for the first time – disliked them and then later on become good friends.
Got a new job – thought it was a terrible mistake and then started to excel and enjoy it.
Upgraded your PC – dreaded learning new stuff and then wondered how you existed without Microsoft Pointless Version 2.11

I will take an educated guess that as a member of the human race, some if not all of the above are applicable to you. Even knowing that, most of us still have tendency to grab that first impression and run with it for as long as we can. Everybody ‘knows’ that first impressions are important, but they are only important because of the desire for people to believe that they usually make accurate snap decisions, and a reluctance to accept it when they get it wrong.

It’s difficult to know what the answer is to this. On the one hand it’s imperative that we listen to our unconscious mind in the form of gut reactions, but at the same time it’s sensible to realize that even our unconscious messes up on occasions. Maybe a compromise would be to go with your gut instinct but be open to the possibility that it may be wrong so you can reassess how things are on a regular basis.

Note: The above advice is in no way intended for people wanting to follow a career in politics where flexibility seems to be considered a sign of weakness. 

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