Opposite Day

Opposite Day

Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen into the confirmation bias trap. That’s where you land on a decision or an opinion first, then go hunting for the information that proves you were right.

We’re All Creatures of Habit

Every single hand should be up. We all do it, and most of the time we do it without noticing. Quick test: what news station do you watch? What paper do you read? What websites and blogs do you find yourself back on week after week?

My guess is they’re the same ones, over and over. Maybe you like the talent, the writing, the opinions, the voice, the perspective — or all of the above. For me it’s the Wall Street Journal most days. I don’t read Fox News and I don’t read the New York Times. So I’m certain that more often than not, my views echo what I’ve been reading in the Journal. It works in the other direction too. I can usually tell within a few minutes of a conversation which publication someone reads regularly, because their opinions carry that paper’s tilt.

I have no real objection to any of this. It’s human. But it raises a question I’ve gotten in the habit of asking myself: what happens if I put the shoe on the other foot? Deliberately take the other viewpoint. Read the opposing piece. What happens next can be profound.

You go from 180 degrees to 360.

Conflicting Views

Taking in conflicting views on a topic is the only way to see the whole thing. Most of us are working with a 180-degree field of vision at best. Once you widen it, things start to happen. You begin to understand the other side, and often to sympathize with it. You get more mindful of what those people think, what they feel, and what led them there in the first place.

You also get more empathetic, because you’re reading genuinely intelligent people who landed somewhere different than you did. In my experience it changes my opinion every time — just not always in the way you’d expect. There are three outcomes, and I’ve had all of them.

Sometimes it hardens my conviction.

I’ll read the other side, try hard not to judge, and come out the far end thinking: I understand exactly where they’re coming from, and I don’t believe a word of it. That’s still a win. Now I hold my position with more conviction and better ammunition. I’ve got fodder for the discussion, the education, the debate.

Sometimes I flip.

This one is hard, because it requires being open-minded enough to admit you were wrong — which, for the record, I hate doing. But I’d like to think I’m big enough to be malleable. If I read something compelling and I simply feel differently afterward, I say so and accept that I’ve seen the light.

Most often, it pulls me toward the middle.

This is the outcome I run into most. I’ll feel strongly about an issue, read a handful of things from the other side, and end up somewhere in between. I may still lean where I started, but the whole thought pattern has been altered. I amend my beliefs to absorb the opposing view and come out with a hybrid position. That’s the most impactful version of this exercise, and the most common.

Call it Opposite Day. If you’ve never run it, start with something you feel strongly about, and go looking for the smartest person who disagrees with you. You’ll come out more informed and sharper. More importantly, you’ll be sharing your opinion rather than parroting your favorite news source’s. That’s a genuinely enlightened thought process, and I’m confident it helps on whatever journey you’re on.

I’ll add that this is a constant in the financial advisor’s seat. We hear conflicting viewpoints from both sides of the aisle all day long. The market is overvalued; the market is just getting started. Rates are staying higher for longer; rates are about to break. The advisor who reads only the bulls, or only the bears, isn’t giving advice — they’re echoing a feed. It’s remarkable what happens when you stop protecting your preconceived notions and start challenging them from every direction.

That’s the job, frankly. Push, educate, and hold up a different lens so you can make the most informed life decisions imaginable.

As always, stay wealthy, healthy, and happy.