Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

A FOOLISH CONSISTENCY
The second major factor that holds people back is 
homeostasis
. This
is defined as a “striving for constancy.” It is a deep desire to remain
consistent with what you have done and said in the past. Ralph
Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay “Self-Reliance,” “A foolish con-
sistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
He was referring to the natural tendency of individuals to try to
remain consistent with previous opinions and behaviors. This form
of rigidity blocks off almost all possibilities for growth in the future.
To resist the tendency toward homeostasis, you should be willing to
abandon your old ideas when someone can prove that there are
newer, better ideas available.
One way to escape the mental trap of homeostasis is for you to
be willing to admit that you are wrong.
The mark of the superior per-
son, in a time of rapid change, is to always remain open to the pos-
sibility that one’s most cherished ideas are incorrect. This takes
tremendous courage and maturity. But it stimulates more ideas
and insights.
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WRONG DECISIONS
According to the American Management Association, at least 70
percent of your decisions will turn out to be wrong in the fullness of
time. This 70 percent figure is an average. Some people will be
wrong even more often. But you can assume, as a rule of thumb,
that 7 out of 10 decisions that you make regarding your life and
work will turn out to be wrong in the long run.