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The over-filtered life



Whether in business or personal life, we make an effort to cross-check what we think is reality to what we hear and see.  It is part of being human, and we do it constantly.  We like to think that business decisions, anything affecting our personal wealth, are based on objective reality.

Unfortunately, our thinking gets polluted every day.  What do the extreme right, moderate right, middle of the road, moderate left and extreme left all have in common?  They all listen to news which is highly -- actually extremely -- biased towards the negative.  Despite ourselves we are influenced by waves of "ain't it awful" rhetoric.  The information we receive from the outside is not balanced. It is unrealistically filtered so that destructive or at least worsening conditions are front and center.  For example, the average person in Africa lives better than most Americans did a few hundred years ago.  But how many times do we see pictures of an African city like Kenya's thriving Nairobi?

So if we can stay aware of the massive filtering that occurs before we see or hear media news or other sources, then  more opportunities may present themselves.    Random ups and downs occur everywhere. If eyeballs are tuned into only the downs, the perception of reality falls far away from the tree of truth.  More balanced views are needed for entrepreneurs to succeed, for older giant firms to "dance", and for change to happen in all  institutions.  When you hear "I'm sure that can't be all there is to the story - I'm checking the facts and figures ....", that's when positive change is asserting itself.

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