Tofugu is an education company. If you’re working here, you're now an educator, whether that's an educator of our learners, colleagues, or yourself. We have high standards for how quickly and how much you improve, as well as how much you help others around you to improve. This comes in many forms, some of which are laid out below.
Over all else, seek truth.
Sometimes this goes against our own hopes and opinions.
It also can go against how we feel and behave naturally.
It can be tough, but it’s always the best answer in the end.
When you get feedback, or hear an opinion, one must be open minded, even if it goes against, or is inconsistent with, how you currently think.
One must collect as much relevant information as possible around a topic or decision, then add your own opinion to the mix as well. Look at all the information as if it all came from a third party source. Your opinion is no different from someone else's (by that, I mean your opinion shouldn’t, by default, be weighted higher than everyone else’s).
From all that information, you should be able to make the best decision possible. Debate it. Poke it. Think about what second or third-order effects it will have if you go down that path (not just the single, direct effect it will have).
All decisions are just a matter of getting the best information you can and using it to make a decision. So if you do that well, you'll likely make good decisions pretty consistently.
Being wrong isn’t a bad thing, it means we’ve changed and improved. Seek out the reasons your thoughts were incorrect and you’ll find yourself improving quickly.
On the other hand, be weary of people who are embarrassed and act out when they find out they didn’t know or understand something. It’s unlikely that they will be open minded enough to consistently make the best overall decision possible.
It’s human nature to let your ego take control when you find out your wrong. In fact, your brain literally goes into defense mode, and starts to block things out so you don’t have to face the fact that you were wrong.
It’s important to notice this so you can get past it as soon as possible. Nobody is actually excited the moment they find out they’re wrong (despite the above principle). It’s not a good feeling. But, the people who manage this well are people who train themselves to get through this defensive mode quickly (sometimes within a second or two). Noticing it’s just your ego doing its thing is part of that.
It’s important to notice what you don’t know, and be okay with that. Nobody knows everything, and we’re all here to help fill those gaps in each other’s knowledge. Take note of these blind spots. If they come up often, start learning. This will help you to make faster and more effective decisions in the future.