"I Know Exactly What You're Thinking" - by Bob Burg

I Know Exactly What You're Thinking

- by Bob Burg

Note the title? How often do we say that to another or, if not say it, how often do we think it?

If I were to be honest with myself, however, I’d have to admit, “No I don’t know what you’re thinking.  I only know what I’m thinking.”

Let’s take it a step further: I only know what I think you must be thinking based upon my unique experiences and circumstances from the moment of my birth up until this point in my life.

And, all of those experiences and circumstances are based on a belief system formed by a combination of my upbringing, environment, schooling, media, etc. And, all of those are affected by everything else, causing an absolutely unique set of beliefs. And, the same can be said of you!

Which means that – no matter how good a “guesser” or logical thinker I am – I cannot possibly know exactly what you are thinking.

And you cannot possibly know exactly what I’m thinking.

Which means, we all need to be careful about what we assume, how we judge, false conclusions, false premises, misunderstandings, non-understandings, communication gaps, mis-communication and all those things that stand in the way of simpatico between peeps.

Solution? One is to ask, clarify, ask some more, continue to clarify. And, of course, continue the process until, while we may not know…we can get pretty darn close.

Is that what you were thinking?