I recently changed jobs within my company and returning to the office, I found myself in a new part of the building. On the wall was a whiteboard with the following words written on it with a blue pen.
Never Assume
The first three letters were underlined. I thought to my self: Ha! Pretty funny. (I am easily pleased like this…) The next time I looked at it: Huh! Pretty juvenile (Trying to be adult and all I guess)
Today a colleague of mine walked passed and we started talking about this and that. I learned the following thing about the message on the board.
Never assume. Because if you do, you are making an Ass out of U and Me.
This resonated with me. I don’t want to get into the “why” here; the concept is nothing new, nothing shocking. But I like the way the message was conveyed. And I already did assume something after I read the message, that so clearly instructed me not to do it. I assumed someone made a clever but silly joke and judged them for it.
Especially today I feel, we assume too much. Now does that mean we should do it less or do the opposite? Less? Probably yes. The opposite? Looking up the antonyms (found this big word after I searched for the term “opposite of assume” to be honest here) it leaves me with mixed feelings.
Disbelief, doubt, give up, reject. These are not great alternatives in my opinion, but it might depend on the situation. Prove, conclude, know, demonstrate. Much better, but probably much effort involved. Friction… that ugly duckling.
Should we then do more of presuming than assuming?
I don’t mean it in the way of being an arrogant jerk, but adding in some probability into the mix. Showing that there might be a chance of alternative ways for interpretation to a situation. How could that look like?
to.be.continued