Suspending Your Disbelief

Jaded:  Is that what we’ve all become?  I had an opportunity this week to make a choice that required me to suspend my disbelief.  I’m not able to go into too much detail yet about the circumstances, but I will tell you that I was exploring a new direction for my business and career.

We have so many ingrained beliefs that interfere with suspending our disbelief.  We’ve heard these adages our whole life:

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
First impressions matter.
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

And then I added a few of my own:

There are few true opportunities in this economy.
Rural living does not offer easy access to cultural experiences.
And, in this SME-oriented era, diversity of experience is not appreciated.

I’m still not sure why I decided “What the heck!” and opted to explore this new opportunity.  All the bells were ringing, and I usually pay close attention to the bells.  But a smaller, quieter voice was saying:  “Suspend your disbelief and go check it out.”

I could not have been more amazed at the results.  A staggeringly beautiful opportunity was presented, and I had almost NOT gone to check it out because of pre-set beliefs and a handful of empty slogans that were bouncing around in my head.

Am I suggesting that you throw caution to the wind and jump on some pyramid scheme bandwagon?  Should you ignore gut feelings AND reason just to be considered open-minded?  Hardly.

But do consider suspending your disbelief around something for a day, a week, or even a month.  What have you got to lose?  I wonder how much we miss because we judge situations or events before they even unfold. 

And yes, it’s important to put on our critic’s hat to evaluate most everything.  But do give yourself a chance to evaluate.  Dismiss things, people, or events before you’ve had a chance to evaluate, and you may just miss out on some really cool experiences.

While it’s certainly important to know who you are, and it’s time-saving to BING (bing.com), I think that search overload and the pace of modern life has led us to routinely make instant decisions.  Instant decisions usually involve not having all the facts and not having developed a big-picture perspective.

Because of my incredible experience this week, I will be much less likely to dismiss things outright.  I will, at the very least, consider what kind of filters/overlay I am attaching when making a quick decision.

My first wish for you is that you will suspend your disbelief while making one decision this week.  My second wish is that you will be surprised or even stunned by what you almost turned away.

I would love to hear about how this works out (or doesn’t) for you.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Marianne Smith
Writer At The Ranch
Making You Look Brilliant One Word At A Time
http://writerattheranch.com
wordsmith@writerattheranch.com